7,500 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes concealed amongst the consignment were seized at Tuas checkpoint on Friday (23 November) at about 5 am, the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said in a press release on Monday.
The authority shared that its officer had directed an arriving Malaysia-registered lorry, driven by a 38-year-old Malaysian man, for further checks at Tuas checkpoint as he noticed anomalies in the scanned images of the lorry which was conveying a consignment declared to be oatmeal.
During the course of checks, ICA officers uncovered the duty-unpaid cigarettes and handed the case over to Singapore Customs for further investigation. The vehicle used in the commission of such offences is liable to be forfeited.
According to the authority, the total duty and Goods and Services Tax evaded amounted to about S$640,500 and S$46,950 respectively.
