SINGAPORE: Smuggling of contraband items through posted parcels or courier services has emerged as a new trend, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said yesterday in its mid-year statistics report.
The number of cases detected increased by about 21 per cent from a year ago to 7,992 in the first half of this year. Controlled items, such as airsoft guns and drugs, were some of the items detected in the parcels.
Other controlled items that require an import licence or authorisation from the relevant controlling authority for entry into Singapore include animals, medicines and weapon replicas.
Apart from the more commonly detected methods of concealment, such as the use of modified compartments in vehicles, the ICA also came across some unusual tactics employed by offenders, including the use of the hollow spaces in consignments, as well as hiding the items in air parcels with false declarations.
“These methods of concealment could just as easily be employed by terrorists to smuggle dangerous materials such as weapons or explosives into Singapore,” the ICA said.
The report also revealed that although there were fewer illegal immigrants in the first half of this year — a decrease of 34 per cent from 203 in 2014 to 133 this year — the number of people arrested for harbouring immigration offenders increased 82.6 per cent, from 109 in 2014 to 199, over the same January-to-June period this year.
The number of people arrested for overstaying their visas climbed 4 per cent to 849 in the six months to June, and the number of employers who hired immigration offenders also increased by about 20 per cent from 40 in 2014 to 48 this year.
The ICA attributed the increase in the number of arrests to strong cooperation with the Singapore Police Force and the Ministry of Manpower in conducting inland enforcement against illegal harbouring and employment offences. The agency has also been working with volunteers, grassroots leaders, real estate agents and community leaders to raise public awareness of these offences through outreach programmes such as talks and exhibitions.
