SINGAPORE: Singapore Customs is investigating two men, after mattresses they were ferrying were found stashed with 980 cartons of contraband cigarettes.
A Singapore-registered lorry driven by a 38-year-old man with a 46-year-old attendant was stopped by Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers for routine checks at Keppel Distripark, ICA said in a news release here the other day.
Officers conducted physical checks on four mattresses on board and found them to be “unusual”, ICA said.
After further inspection, the officers discovered anomalies in the scanned image of the mattresses. Subsequently, they uncovered 980 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes – each comprising 200 sticks – in hidden compartments of the mattresses.
ICA said the estimated value of the contraband cigarettes is about S$104,400, and the evaded duty and GST involved amounted to about S$76,000 and S$7,300 respectively.
