SINGAPORE - A 31-year-old man was arrested on Friday (Nov 4) for attempting to smuggle 4,500 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes into Singapore from Jurong Port, the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said in a release on Tuesday (Nov 8).

At about 10pm on Friday, an ICA officer at the Jurong Scanning Station directed a Singapore-registered prime mover for further inspection after noticing anomalies in the scanned images of the 40 foot container, which the driver claimed was empty.

During the inspection, officers found 4,500 cartons of contraband cigarettes, worth over $460,000 in potential duty and Goods and Services Taxes, concealed in a modified compartment of the container.

The driver, a Chinese national, and the container were handed over to Singapore Customs for further investigations.

The ICA said that it will continue to conduct security checks on passengers and vehicles at checkpoints to prevent attempts to smuggle undesirable people, drugs, weapons, explosives and other contraband.

Border security checks are critical to the Republic's security, as the same methods of concealment used by contraband smugglers may be used by terrorists to smuggle arms and explosives to carry out attacks in Singapore, it said.