Singapore's Immigrations and Checkpoint Authority (ICA) said on Friday that around 5,000 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized at the Tuas Checkpoint. Reports said the cartons were found arriving in a Malaysia-registered truck.
The authorities said the 38-year-old Malaysian truck driver was stopped for further checks after ICA officers noticed anomalies in the scanned images of the truck that was conveying a consignment declared as air conditioners.
The total amount of Goods and Services Tax evaded was about S$422,920 and S$31,150 respectively.
The authorities handed over the duty-unpaid cigarettes and truck Singapore Customs for investigations. The driver was also handed over to the customs authority. ICA officers said that the vehicle used in the commission of such offences is liable to be forfeited.
The ICA has warned that the same methods of concealment used by contraband smugglers may be used by terrorists to smuggle arms and explosives to carry out attacks in Singapore.
The authorities stressed that it will continue to conduct security checks on passengers and vehicles at the checkpoints in order to prevent attempts to smuggle in undesirable persons, drugs, weapons, explosives and other contrabands.
