Singapore Customs thwarted an attempt by four men to distribute duty-unpaid cigarettes locally, after the cigarettes were smuggled into Singapore by concealing them in cardboard cars.
Arising from intelligence gathered, Singapore Customs officers kept watch on a commercial building in Kallang Avenue on 7 August 2017.
At around evening that day, they spotted two men arriving in a Singapore-registered van and parking the van at the loading bay of the building. Two other men came out from a unit in the commercial building shortly after, each pushing a trolley of brown boxes towards the van.
Little did they know that Singapore Customs officers were observing them nearby. The officers moved in simultaneously on the van and the unit and arrested the four men. Duty-unpaid cigarettes were found in the brown boxes that were loaded onto the trolleys and the van. A search of the unit in the commercial building found cut-up cardboard cars which were used to conceal and smuggle the cigarettes into Singapore.
Follow-up raids were also conducted in the four men’s apartment units, and a further 10 cartons and 14 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized from two of the men’s apartment units.
A total of 2,610 cartons and 14 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes, with duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) evaded amounting to about $202,640 and $15,020 respectively, were seized in the operation.
The four men, all Chinese nationals, were charged in court on 8 August 2017 and court proceedings are ongoing.
Members of public with information on smuggling activities or evasion of Customs duty or GST can call the Singapore Customs hotline on 1800-2330000, email customs_intelligence@customs.gov.sg or use Customs@SG mobile app to report these illegal activities.
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