A total of three cartons, 34 packets, and 21 loose sticks of duty-unpaid cigarettes were found concealed in a bag of a 80-years-old man. In a Facebook post on Wednesday (13 February), the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said that its officers at Singapore Cruise Centre detected anomalies in the scanned images of two bags belonging to a Singaporean man on 10 February.
Further checks uncovered the duty-unpaid cigarettes concealed in assorted boxes found within the bags.
The Singaporean man was then referred to Singapore Customs.
The authority stated that investigations are ongoing.
“The ICA will continue to conduct security checks on passengers and vehicles to prevent smuggling attempts of undesirable persons, drugs, weapons, explosives and other contrabands,” ICA said.
Last week, twenty-five drivers lured by online advertisements to smuggle duty-unpaid cigarettes into Singapore, who got caught in 2018, were sentenced by the State Courts to imprisonment terms of between 10 weeks and six months.
The online advertisements on social media platforms such as Facebook and WeChat typically offer a payment ranging between $100 and $600 for every smuggling trip into Singapore.
