KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian and three Indians were held in Singapore after over 4,500 cartons of cigarettes with unpaid duties were recovered at the Woodlands Checkpoint.
In the operation on Jan 28, the Singapore Customs had worked with Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) on Sunday to monitor entry of a Malaysia-registered bowser truck suspected of being used to deliver cigarettes with unpaid duties.
In a joint statement issued by the Singapore Customs and ICA, the bowser truck driven by a Malaysian man was inspected at the Woodlands Checkpoint at about 3.45am.
During the inspection, an ICA officer noticed anomalies in the scanned image of the bowser, and immediately alerted Singapore Customs.
A follow-up operation was conducted at Tuas View Crescent where two Singapore-registered trucks were parked next to the bowser truck.
“Three men were seen alighting from one of the trucks and transferring goods from the bowser to the other truck. A Singapore Customs officer immediately moved in to conduct a search and found a total of 4,567 cartons and 80 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes in the bowser and the other truck.
“The three men, all Indian nationals, were immediately placed under arrest, while the Malaysian driver was arrested on the same day at the Tuas Checkpoint,” the statement read.
The cigarettes and trucks were seized.
“The total duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) evaded amounted to about $355,020 (RM1.4 million) and $26,310 (RM102,606) respectively.” Investigations are ongoing.
Buying, selling, conveying, delivering, storing, keeping, possessing or dealing with duty-unpaid goods are serious offences under Customs Act and the GST Act. Offenders can be fined up to 40 times the amount of duty and GST evaded and/or jailed for up to six years.
