SINGAPORE: Eighty-eight people were caught for various offences, including failing to declare and pay taxes on cigarettes, after a week-long multi-agency enforcement operation was carried out across land, sea and air checkpoints.
In a joint statement on Saturday (Oct 18), the police, Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, Singapore Customs and Health Sciences Authority said more than 14,000 travellers and 280 vehicles had gone through checks during the operation, which took place between Oct 9 and 15.
More than 11,700 pieces of luggage and hand-carry bags were scanned or searched, the authorities added, as part of efforts to “detect and enforce against non-compliance with Singapore’s cross-border cash reporting regime and other illegal cross-border smuggling activities”.
The operation caught 11 people trying to bring in cash worth more than S$20,000, or its equivalent in foreign currencies, into Singapore without making a declaration, or with an inaccurate one.
All were foreign nationals, with the largest amount being detected on Oct 13, when four people were caught separately trying to bring in a total of more than $1.2 million in various currencies.
Of the 11 people caught, four were given warnings, while six were issued composition fines amounting to $24,000. Investigations into the last individual are ongoing.
Fourteen others were separately caught possessing e-vaporisers, with a total of 395 devices and their related components seized. – Photo: Immigration and Checkpoints Authority
