More than 2,000 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized at Woodland checkpoint on Friday (9 November) and Saturday (10 November).
This was announced by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) in a Facebook post on Monday (12 November).
ICA stated that officers discovered 192 cartons and 40 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden in 4 ice boxes of seafood and the Singapore-registered car’s spare tyre compartment on 10 Nov at about 12.15 pm. The 64-year-old Singaporean man was then referred to Singapore Customs for investigation.
The day before at about 7.40 pm, ICA said that its officers also noticed anomalies in the scanned images of an arriving Singapore-registered bus and found 1,846 cartons and 40 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes in the luggage compartment. The 47-year-old Singaporean driver was also referred to Singapore Customs for investigation.
ICA stressed that the borders are the first line of defence in safeguarding Singapore’s security. In view of the Asean summit, ICA has stepped up checks at our air, land and sea checkpoints. Motorists using the land checkpoints can expect enhanced checks on their vehicles.
“We seek the public’s understanding and cooperation as we keep our borders safe during this period,” it stated.