Sixteen men were arrested in the last two weeks for their involvement in duty-unpaid cigarette activities.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday (24 April), Singapore Customs stated that the 12 Singaporeans, three Chinese nationals and a Malaysian were arrested in a series of operations conducted island-wide by Singapore Customs officers to clamp down on duty-unpaid cigarette activities.
According to the authority, a total of 2,967 cartons and 19,018 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized from these operations.
It said that the total duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) evaded amounted to about $501,680 and $36,690 respectively.
The authority also seized five vehicles and over $6000 in cash in the operations.
Singapore Customs stressed that buying, selling, conveying, delivering, storing, keeping, having in possession or dealing with duty-unpaid goods are serious offences under the Customs Act and the GST Act.
Offenders can be fined up to 40 times the amount of duty and GST evaded and/or jailed for up to six years. Vehicles used in the commission of such offences are also liable to be forfeited.
It encourages members of the public with information on smuggling activities or evasion of Customs duty or GST to call the Singapore Customs hotline on 1800-2330000, email [email protected] or use Customs@SG mobile app (which can be downloaded from the Apple Store or Google Play) to report these illegal activities.
