Think that being a buyer of illegal cigarettes won’t get you into trouble?
Think agai.
As part of the islandwide crackdown on 7 Dec to 8 Dec over at 30 locations, 15 buyers were caught trying to buy illegal cigarettes. These buyers had purchased their duty-unpaid cigarettes through e-commerce platforms or through peddlers at heavy-vehicle carparks.
Of the 15 buyers, two were arrested and the rest were fined between S$500 and S$5,000.
Over 4,137 sticks of cigarettes were seized and that means over S$2,800 of levies were evaded.
And yes, you can get arrested even if you buy them online.
This is what happened to this particular security officer when an undercover customs officer caught him.
Security Officer
In this case, the customs officer showed up at 33-year-old security officer home, posing as a buyer. When the security officer accepted the parcel of contraband cigarettes, he was caught by the undercover customs officer.
This was not the first time the buyer bought had illegal cigarettes online. His home has more than five tins of cigarettes, containing 250 sticks in total.
Due to a large number of illicit cigarettes, the buyer was arrested immediately. He was later released on bail.
The parcel of contraband cigarettes which he accepted was believed to be from Indonesia. It was detected by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority before being handed over to the Customs officers.
Online Dealers
In the past, if you want some cheap but illegal cigarettes, you have to go to some shady peddler at a heavy-vehicle carpark. These days, you can do that online.
Being anonymous online, most buyers have a false sense of security. After all, it feels like buying another pair of Nike shoes right? However, the risk is equally as high.
These illicit cigarette listings could be found on platforms like Shopee and Carousell, and some of the sellers even tried to disgust the listings by renaming the title or posting photos of other products.
However, smokers who are looking for these items could still easily spot the listing as there are hints of the product in the photos or the title.
Of course, sellers do not get away with listing such items. Those contraband listings which were identified were removed during a sweep. The sellers will also be notified and banned from the platform if necessary.
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Featured Image: Singapore Customs
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