SINGAPORE – The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) foiled an attempt to smuggle 13,000 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes into Singapore through Tuas Checkpoint, the largest such haul for 2023.

ICA revealed in a Facebook post on Jan 22 that the cartons of contraband were hidden with cellophane tape in a Malaysia-registered lorry.

The cartons were uncovered by officers on Dec 21, 2023, after the lorry was directed for checks due to anomalies in a scanned image, an ICA spokesman said in response to queries from The Straits Times.

The consignment had been declared as tape, he added.

The total duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) evaded amounted to more than $1.39 million, said a Singapore Customs spokeswoman.

She said the authority is still investigating the case.

The largest seizure of duty-unpaid cigarettes in the past five years was 17,250 cartons, in 2020.

At the start of 2023, on Jan 18, the authority had seized 12,708 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes at Tuas Checkpoint, the largest haul for the year at the time.

In November the same year, ICA thwarted three attempts in one day to smuggle duty-unpaid cigarettes into Singapore through Woodlands Checkpoint.

Buying, selling, conveying, delivering, storing, keeping, possessing or dealing with duty-unpaid goods are serious offences under the Customs Act and Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act.

Offenders can be fined up to 40 times the amount of duty and GST evaded, jailed for up to six years, or both.