5 cars stuffed with cigarettes in every nook and cranny caught at Woodlands Checkpoint

Singapore – In a Facebook post on March 8, 2019 (Friday), the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) shared their latest bust on smuggling contrabands across Singapore. Five separate cars were discovered to have been modified to hide cigarettes.

Leave it to ICA to come up with witty captions for their updates. This time they wrote: “Our officers work tyre-lessly to ensure that no one is ‘spared’” and proceeded with the update.

In a matter of one week, from February 28 to March 6, ICA officers at Woodlands Checkpoint spotted five separate cases of contraband cigarettes hidden in three Malaysia and two Singapore-registered vehicles.

The vigilant officers searched every nook and cranny of the cars and found a total of 707 cartons and 1,187 packets of assorted cigarettes. These contraband items were found in the spare tyre compartments, door panels, skirting, dashboard, fuel tank, bumper, backseats, boot panels and floorboard of the cars. Talk about exerting effort in modifying the vehicles.

The offenders, aged between 20 and 50, involved in the case were two male Singaporean drivers, three male Malaysian drivers, and two female Singaporean passengers. They were all handed over to Singapore Customs for further investigation.

ICA also mentioned that the vehicles used to commit the crimes are liable to be forfeited.

According to the ICA, “These methods of concealment are a cause for concern as similar methods may be used by people with ill intent to smuggle security items into Singapore.”

“The ICA will continue to conduct security checks to prevent smuggling attempts,” they added.

Based on the Singapore Customs, offenders may settle customs offences by an out-of-court composition sum mentioned in the table below or prosecution in court, depending on the severity of the offence.

Read the full post below:

https://www.facebook.com/Immigration.Checkpoints.Authority/posts/858130171203565?__xts__[0]=68.ARAI1WgkcmheFoGKVqe57tsJwXlUUIvSFWnfHe5Mi82nDODDzEm-FFsCnqzOibIP_2c622-9P6rPWLauxogeWaBbudqQ2jVYlAOKdcRuaxrlLvL7ZbAeoJ67WVkF5Y4iA4Q0fcTM–VRSJN9Eqsczxh4zG8Ljp5yZQEUhaeTq0_1CAhCY_yHjAUxagOveq4OlpjzfC1TnyEkAIqygrLG7_1nTiA1C1SG3jZ_UmmCiio5FPOIEsb6_R37z28xPpAFCpSpZeFUvjAllN1_aTJ5vp569fz_wHY7BuTxA5RlCyja3-gZV8beMsBbSovMVCNnIYUk-XYdsyzsZMamWeZWQbo&__tn__=-R

On February 28 the ICA stopped a departing Malaysia-registered car at the Woodlands Checkpoint and found a woman being illegally taken out of Singapore via the car boot.

https://theindependent.sg.sg/malaysians-exiting-singapore-caught-smuggling-woman-in-car-boot-at-woodlands-checkpoint/