Six arrested, 8,580 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes seized in joint Customs-ICA operation

A Singapore-registered truck (left) and concrete slabs containing carton boxes of duty-unpaid cigarettes (right) found at a storage yard in Penjuru Walk.PHOTOS: SINGAPORE CUSTOMS

The authorities seized a truck and 8,580 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden in 12 concrete blocks last Thursday (April 8).

Six men - five Malaysians and one Indonesian - aged between 22 and 37 were arrested in a joint operation between Singapore Customs and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA).

In a statement on Wednesday (April 14), Singapore Customs said that their officers launched an operation on the evening of April 8 at a storage yard in Penjuru Walk.

They saw several men entering the yard and dismantling concrete slabs with sledgehammers to retrieve what were suspected to be cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes from a hollow compartment of the smashed slabs.

As the men loaded the cartons onto a Singapore-registered truck, officers moved in to raid the premises and arrested them. The truck was also seized.

The total duty and goods and services tax (GST) evaded on the cartons amounted to about $732,730 and $58,780 respectively.

Court proceedings against the six men are ongoing, said Singapore Customs.