Contraband smuggling cases up by 17% in first half of 2013: ICA

Contraband cigarettes nabbed by the Singapore Customs and the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority on April 1, 2013. Case of contraband smuggling saw a 17.2 per cent increase in the first half of this year compared to the same period last yea
Contraband cigarettes nabbed by the Singapore Customs and the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority on April 1, 2013. Case of contraband smuggling saw a 17.2 per cent increase in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said in its half-yearly statistics released on Tuesday. -- FILE PHOTO: SINGAPORE CUSTOMS

Case of contraband smuggling saw a 17.2 per cent increase in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said in its half-yearly statistics released on Tuesday.

There were some 46,300 of such cases between January and June this year, an increase from 39,500 recorded last year.

Meanwhile, the number of immigration offenders arrested in the first half of this year has dropped by 0.5 per cent. There were 1,311 illegal immigrants and overstayers arrested from January to June this year, a drop from 1,318 in the same period last year.

The number of illegal immigrants arrested registered a 22.8 per cent drop in the first half of this year, but those caught for overstaying increased by 9.5 per cent compared to the first half of last year.

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