More than 391kg of cannabis was found in an inbound container at Pasir Panjang Scanning Station after officers detected something unusual in scanned images of the shipment.
The seizure happened on 24 September 2026, but was announced by the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) and Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) on 2 October.
In total, officers uncovered 1,290 blocks of cannabis, weighing about 391kg altogether.
Container Was Flagged for Enhanced Checks
According to the joint ICA-CNB statement, the container was identified through ICA’s targeting efforts and referred for enhanced checks.
During the checks, ICA image analysts noticed anomalies in the scanned images of the container.
In other words, something in the scan did not look quite right. And no, this was not a case of someone forgetting to declare an extra box of office snacks.
When ICA officers physically inspected the container, they found suspected cannabis blocks hidden inside boxes containing gloves.
CNB officers were then alerted immediately and conducted further checks on the container.
Those checks led to the discovery of the 1,290 cannabis blocks.
Drugs Were Allegedly in Transit Through Singapore
Preliminary investigations found that the drugs were transiting through Singapore and were bound for another country.
This means Singapore was not believed, at this stage, to be the final destination of the shipment.
However, the seizure still took place at a Singapore scanning station, which is why ICA and CNB were involved.
Investigations are ongoing.
The agencies did not provide further details on the origin country of the container or the intended destination country in the public statement.
Singapore’s Drug Laws Remain Strict
ICA and CNB also stated that under Section 7 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1973, people who import into or export from Singapore more than 500g of cannabis may face the mandatory death penalty.
The amount detected in this case was about 391kg, far above that 500g threshold.
ICA said it works closely with CNB to prevent attempts to smuggle drugs across Singapore’s borders.
The authority added that it will continue conducting security checks at checkpoints to stop the smuggling of drugs, contraband, weapons, explosives and other prohibited items.
This latest case also comes after another large cannabis seizure at Pasir Panjang Scanning Station earlier in 2026.
In January 2026, ICA and CNB said 509kg of cannabis had been detected in a 20-foot inbound container at the same scanning station. That shipment had been targeted for enhanced checks after information was shared by Singapore Customs and after ICA’s pre-arrival risk assessment.
