Bid to smuggle vaporiser refill pods, chewing tobacco into S'pore foiled

An attempt to smuggle some 6,000 vaporiser refill pods and 167kg of chewing tobacco into Singapore was foiled by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) on Wednesday.

The ICA said in a Facebook post yesterday that officers at Tuas Checkpoint had directed a Malaysia-registered lorry, which was transporting a consignment of soap products, for further checks, during which boxes of vaporiser refills and bundles of chewing tobacco were found concealed in the driver's resting area, located behind the driver's seat.

The ICA said the driver is Malaysian, adding that the case has since been referred to the Health Sciences Authority for further investigation.

The refill pods are used in e-vaporisers - commonly known as vape pens - which are used as an alternative to cigarettes.

Last month, the ICA stopped a similar attempt to smuggle nearly 22,000 such vape pens and refill pods into Singapore from Malaysia.

The ICA said that safeguarding Singapore's borders remains its top priority.

As similar concealment methods may also be used by terrorists to smuggle arms and explosives into the country, the ICA said it will continue to conduct security checks to detect and deter such smuggling attempts to keep Singapore safe.