Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) has announced that the shipment of Terrex Infantry Carrier Vehicles (ICVs) and associated equipment that has been seized by the Hong Kong customs belong to the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) which it had used for its overseas training in Taiwan.
The shipment was seized by the Hong Kong customs at Hong Kong’s Kwai Chung Container Terminal on Wednesday (23 November) after a routine inspection by the authorities.
MINDEF stated that Singapore authorities are currently providing relevant assistance to the Hong Kong Customs and expect the shipment to return to Singapore expeditiously.
The Government was quoted to have said that Hong Kong was not the final destination for the vehicles and there is a possibility that they were unloaded by mistake.
Hong Kong based investigative journalism site, FactWire, had earlier broke the news of the seizure on Thursday. It also published pictures and drone footage of the terminal where the armoured vehicles were seized.
FactWire reported that the vehicles, which had been shipped from Kao Hsiung in Taiwan, were placed on container low beds and initially wrapped in blue, grey covers.
The Terrex ICVs were used by the SAF in routine overseas training and shipped back via commercial means as with previous exercises.
