SINGAPORE: Three Singaporeans and one Indonesian were charged in the State Courts on for their involvement in contraband cigarette activities, the Singapore Customs and Immigration and Checkpoints Authority revealed in a joint statement here the other day.
Muhammad Khairul Anwar Abdul Hadi, 30, Zulkiflee Wari, 40, and Ramdan Tengalim, 48, as well as 37-year-old Indonesian Haidir, were all arrested on Jun 10 by Singapore Customs officers.
The authorities collaborated to conduct checks on a consignment of 30 bed headboards that arrived at Seletar Airport on Jun 9. According to the press release, the checks revealed duty-unpaid cigarettes that were hidden in the headboards, which had been specially modified.
Singapore Customs officers then “kept a close watch as the consignment of headboards was transported in a bonded truck to a warehouse at Loyang Crescent”, it said.
At about 10pm, the officers spotted the truck leaving the warehouse and trailed it to an HDB block at Pasir Ris Street 21, where Muhammad Khairul, Zulkiflee and two other Singaporean men were seen disposing of the headboards at a refuse collection centre, the authorities added.
Officers moved in and arrested the four men, as well as seized the bonded truck. A total of 2,999 cartons and seven packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized from the warehouse, where officers also arrested Ramdan, Haidir and another Singaporean man who was packing cigarettes into boxes.
The authorities revealed the total duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) evaded amounted to more than S$309,000.
“Court proceedings are underway for Muhammad Khairul, Zulkiflee, Ramdan and Haidir. Investigations are ongoing for the other three suspects,” said Singapore Customs and ICA.
The minimum court fine for first-time and repeat offenders of tobacco-related offences are S$2,000 and S$4,000, respectively, and repeat offenders who are caught with more than two kilogrammes of tobacco products will also face time in jail. Vehicles used in the commission of such offences are liable to be forfeited, said the two agencies.
