SINGAPORE - A ship carrying duty-unpaid cigarettes was intercepted in the waters off Singapore's Penjuru Terminal in a multi-agency operation involving the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA), Police Coast Guard and Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore.

In a Facebook post on Monday (Feb 21), the ICA said the supply vessel, called Sea Dragon 2, was found to be carrying about 600 cartons and 30 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes in the operation last Wednesday. The cigarettes were hidden in a hatch on the storage deck of the vessel.

The master of the boat and two crew members, all Indonesian nationals, are being investigated by the Singapore Customs.

Photos from the ICA showed the illicit goods wrapped in black and white trash bags in the vessel.

The agency said that similar concealment methods may be used by terrorists to smuggle "security items" into Singapore.

"ICA will continue to work with the relevant government agencies to conduct security checks to detect and deter smuggling attempts to keep Singapore safe," it added.

Those who buy, sell or deal with duty-unpaid goods can be fined up to 40 times the amount of levies evaded and jailed for up to six years.