ICA officers unwrap 'assorted vegetables' in Malaysia lorry at Woodlands Checkpoint, find 800 cartons of contraband cigarettes

A refrigerated lorry carrying a consignment of goods declared as assorted vegetables from Malaysia may have appeared routine, as the country is one of Singapore's main sources of imported produce.

But Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers at Woodlands Checkpoint had a different sort of discovery as they unwrapped white trash bags tucked under baskets of vegetables on Oct 8.

In a series of photographs posted on its social media on Tuesday (Oct 27), the authority said that their image analyst had noticed anomalies in the scanned images of a Malaysia-registered lorry.

The lorry was then directed for enhanced checks where ICA search and examination officers found more than 800 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden beneath baskets of vegetables in white thrash bags.

According to ICA, the Malaysia-registered lorry had declared its consignment of goods as assorted vegetables.

In this case, a 33-year-old male Malaysian driver was arrested, and the case referred to the Singapore Customs for further investigation.

Buying, selling, conveying, possessing or dealing with duty-unpaid goods are serious offences under the Customs Act and the Goods and Services Tax Act.

Offenders can be fined up to 40 times the amount of duty evaded, jailed for up to six years, or both.

Vehicles used in these offences and proceeds of sales of duty-unpaid goods may also be forfeited.

一辆载有来自马来西亚的什锦蔬菜货物的冷藏货车，看起来似乎很普通，因为马来西亚是新加坡进口农产品的主要来源国之一。

但10月8日，兀兰关卡的移民与关卡局（ICA）官员在打开塞在蔬菜篮下的白色垃圾袋时，却有了另一种发现。

该机构周二（10 月 27 日）在其社交媒体上发布了一系列照片，称其图像分析师注意到一辆马来西亚注册货车的扫描图像存在异常。

随后，这辆货车被引导进行更严格的检查，移民与关卡局的搜查和检查人员在装满蔬菜的篮子下面，用白色垃圾袋发现了 800 多箱未缴税香烟。

据ICA称，这辆马来西亚注册的货车申报的货物为各种蔬菜。

本案中，一名33岁的马来西亚籍男司机被捕，案件已移交新加坡海关作进一步调查。

根据《海关法》和《商品和服务税法》，购买、出售、运输、持有或处理未缴税货物都是严重的违法行为。

违法者可被处以逃税金额 40 倍的罚款，或被判处最高 6 年监禁，或两者并罚。

用于这些违法行为的车辆以及销售未缴税货物的所得款项也可能被没收。