Customs seizes 26,000 cartons of illegal smokes
More than 26,000 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized by the Singapore Customs in two consecutive days.
On Sept 18, Customs officers conducted checks on two Singapore-registered bonded trucks near Choa Chu Kang Avenue 2 and 3.
Brown boxes containing 2,142 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were uncovered in the two trucks.
Three Malaysian men, aged between 31 and 36, were arrested.
Later that day, Singapore Customs raided a warehouse unit in Bukit Batok Crescent and detected four men retrieving duty-unpaid cigarettes from pallets of cartons boxes in the unit. Another 12,513 cartons and 840 packets were seized.
The four men, one Malaysian and three Indonesians aged between 20 and 40, were arrested.
GAMBAS CRESCENT
The next morning, another raid at a warehouse unit in Gambas Crescent was carried out, and six Singaporean men aged between 25 and 26 were arrested for dealing with duty-unpaid cigarettes.
Two Singapore-registered trucks and 10,631 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were found in the two trucks that were seized.
On the same evening, officers detected another Singapore-registered truck at a carpark in Woodlands Street 13 where 1,428 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized.
The total duty and goods and services tax (GST) evaded was about $2 million and $175,660 respectively.
A total of 13 men were arrested in the five locations over the two days.
Of the 13, eight have been charged in court while investigations are ongoing for the remaining five men.
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, or jailed for up to six years, or both.
Vehicles used in the commission of such offences are also liable to be forfeited.
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