Two Singaporeans attempting to smuggle in barbequed meat (‘bak kwa’) hidden in packets of durian-flavoured biscuits at the arrival bus hall on 12 January were foiled by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers
In a Facebook post, ICA said that its officers noticed packets of layered stacks resembling ‘bak kwa’ in the scanned images of the 39-year-old female and 29-year-old male Singaporean’s hand-carried bags. Upon opening the packets of biscuits, slices of ‘bak kwa’ were found.
The cases were then referred to Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) for further investigation.
The authority stressed that food products brought into Singapore must meet AVA’s guidelines and must be from approved sources.
Travellers are not allowed to bring in meat and meat products from Malaysia into Singapore, it said.
On AVA’s website it is said that pork products brought into Singapore for personal consumption must come from a list of 21 countries that are approved by AVA. While, Malaysia is not on the list.
It is also said that these meat products must also not exceed 5 kg.
