Man arrested over 261 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes: Singapore Customs

SINGAPORE — A 35-year-old Singaporean man was arrested on Tuesday (23 August) following a seizure of 261 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes by the authorities.

The total duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) evaded amounted to about $22,280 and $1,770 respectively.

Singapore Customs officers had spotted the man in a Singapore-registered car that was loaded with brown boxes in its passenger compartment during an operation conducted at a car park in Ubi Road 3, the agency said on Friday in a press statement.

The officers later uncovered 258 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes in the car and arrested the man.

A follow-up search at the man’s residence led to a seizure of another three cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes and 10 empty computer casings that were used to store the duty-unpaid cigarettes.

Investigations revealed that the man was allegedly engaged by an unknown person to accept delivery of the computer casings at his residence, retrieve duty-unpaid cigarettes from the computer casings, and then pack and deliver the duty-unpaid cigarettes to different locations in Singapore.

All the duty-unpaid cigarettes, computer casings and the vehicle were seized. Court proceedings are ongoing, said Singapore Customs.

Under the Customs Act and the GST Act, offenders can be fined up to 40 times the amount of duty and GST evaded or face a maximum jail term of six years, or both. Vehicles used in the commission of such offences may be forfeited.

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