JAKARTA - Singapore Customs released the results on June 2 of two enforcement operations conducted on May 14 near Choa Chu Kang Street 52 and Tampines Avenue 9. Officers arrested eight men aged between 33 and 49 in connection with the case. The group comprised four Indonesian nationals and four Singaporeans.

Acting on information received, officers checked a residential unit in Choa Chu Kang and uncovered 21,992 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes. The cigarettes were concealed in cartons disguised as snack products. Some packets had already been removed from the cartons and sealed in grey packaging.

Three Singaporeans and all four Indonesian nationals were arrested during the Choa Chu Kang operation. Singapore Customs also seized S$38,325 in suspected proceeds from the sale of duty-unpaid cigarettes found inside the unit.

Officers conducted a follow-up operation in Tampines on the same day. They observed a Singaporean man unloading red plastic bags from a Singapore-registered car. A check of the vehicle uncovered another 4,243 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes. Officers arrested the man and seized the car.

The two operations resulted in the seizure of 26,235 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes. Singapore Customs said the duty and Goods and Services Tax evaded amounted to about S$485,773. Court proceedings against all eight men are ongoing, according to the agency’s June 2 media release.

Singapore Customs said that “buying, selling, conveying, delivering, storing, keeping, possessing or dealing in duty-unpaid cigarettes are serious offences.” 

Under Singapore’s Customs Act and GST Act, offenders can face fines of up to 40 times the duty and GST evaded, imprisonment for up to six years, or both. Vehicles used to commit such offences may also be forfeited. Members of the public can report suspected smuggling activities or duty and GST evasion through the agency’s official reporting channel.