Four men aged between 24 and 48 have been arrested, alongside their haul of 9,081 cartons and eight packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes on 13 May 2021.
According to The Straits Times, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers at Pasir Panjang had suspected that duty-unpaid cigarettes were inside a 20-foot container after anomalies were detected while scanning it on 12 May.
They then alerted Singapore Customs of the suspicious item.
On 13 May, Customs officers conducted an operation at a store unit in one of the industrial buildings at Jalan Pemimpin. Three men had entered the unit after four steel water tanks were unloaded from the container and moved into the unit.
The officers then proceeded to raid the unit and just as they had deduced, duty-unpaid cigarettes were concealed inside the water tank.
In addition, more cigarettes and e-vaporiser pods were found in a car belonging to one of the men. It was parked right outside the building.
Three men were initially arrested. After a probe revealed that another man was involved in the importation of duty-unpaid cigarettes, he was also apprehended.
This was a joint operation by Singapore Customs and ICA.
The total duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) evaded summed up to a staggering S$776,550 and S$62,280 respectively.
One man has already been charged in court and remains detained till Friday for further investigations. Investigations are currently ongoing for the other three men.
Singapore Customs and ICA warns that buying, selling, conveying, delivering, storing, keeping, possessing and dealing with duty-unpaid goods are serious offences under the Customs Act and the GST Act.
The ICA said it will continue to conduct security checks at the checkpoints and work with other agencies to prevent smuggling attempts.
Offenders can be fined up to 40 times the amount of duty and GST evaded, jailed for up to six years, or both.
6 People Who Bought Contraband Cigarettes Online Arrested
Six men had been apprehended in an enforcement operation on 13 April 2021.
The operation, which was carried out by Singapore Customs, specifically went for patrons of online-based, duty-unpaid cigarettes.
The officers had utilised the digital footprint of apprehended peddlers to trace illegal purchasers.
In total, 9.8kg (or 40 cartons), 85 packets and 116 sticks of content were confiscated. The total duty and GST came up to some S$4,500.
Three of the six men apprehended have since been charged while investigations are currently ongoing for the rest. Meanwhile, another 11 men have been given composition fines stretching from S$500 to S$5,500.
One particular individual, who was slapped with a S$4,800 fine, has since been given two weeks to settle the payment.
“Some offenders were prosecuted in court, while others were given heavy composition fines,” said Mr Chua Teck Hui, head of Singapore Customs’ suppression and community engagement branch.
“Foreigners will be repatriated after prosecution.”
Feature Image: Singapore Customs
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