A 25-year-old male Indian national was found hidden in a luggage compartment of a registered bus at the Tuas checkpoint, after an officer at the checkpoint, stopped a departing Malaysia-registered bus driven by a male Malaysian for checks at the checkpoint on 14 October 2018 at about 9.20 pm.
Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) shared that the officer then spoke to the 37-year-old driver and noticed that he was visibly nervous.
Sensing something amiss, the officers then conducted thorough checks of the bus and found a man hiding in the luggage compartment.
ICA said that preliminary investigations revealed that the “illegal passenger” is due to appear in Court for another case.
According to the authority, the driver was promised SGD $700 by an unknown agent if he successfully conveyed the male Indian national out of Singapore illegally. The driver and the man will be charged in court on 16 October for offences under the Immigration Act.
ICA stressed that it takes a serious view of attempts by foreigners who overstay, enter or depart Singapore illegally.
Under the Immigration Act (Cap 133), the penalties for overstaying or illegal entry are a jail term of up to six months plus a minimum of three strokes of the cane, while the penalties for illegal departure is a fine of up to $2,000, a jail term of up to six months, or both.
“Our borders are our first line of defence in safeguarding Singapore’s security. The ICA will continue to conduct security checks on passengers and vehicles at the checkpoints to prevent attempts to smuggle in undesirable persons, drugs, weapons, explosives and other contrabands,” it added.
