{"id":46565,"date":"2026-04-22T19:27:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:27:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=46565"},"modified":"2026-04-22T19:27:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:27:34","slug":"ex-certis-officer-who-took-over-1k-in-bribes-in-cigarette-smuggling-case-gets-17-months-jail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=46565","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Certis officer who took over $1k in bribes in cigarette smuggling case gets 17 months\u2019 jail"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">SINGAPORE \u2013 A former Certis security officer\u00a0who\u00a0facilitated 26 cigarette smuggling operations and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/courts-crime\/ex-certis-officer-linked-to-cigarette-smuggling-operations-admits-receiving-1572-in-bribes?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\">received $1,572 in bribes<\/span><\/a> was sentenced to 17 months\u2019 jail on April 22.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Muhammad Haaziq Karudin, 34, was also ordered to pay a penalty of $1,572, <!-- -->equivalent to the<!-- --> bribes he received.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">He had pleaded guilty on April 14 to one count each of graft and sharing confidential information about his work schedule with another person \u2013 an offence under the Official Secrets Act.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Haaziq was the fifth person linked to the case to be dealt with in court.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Three other former Certis officers \u2013 Muhammad Khairul Amir Suhaimi, then 25; Sri Daniah Abdul Razak, then 26;\u00a0and Mohamad Aziffi Selamat, then 32 <!-- -->\u2013<!-- --> <!-- -->were\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/courts-crime\/2-former-certis-officers-jailed-for-accepting-over-4000-in-bribes?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\">dealt with in court earlier<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Muhammad Sukaimi Gasali, then 34 and\u00a0a crane operator at the time of the offences,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/courts-crime\/jail-for-man-who-gave-bribes-totalling-over-9k-to-4-certis-officers-in-cigarette-smuggling-operation?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\">was sentenced in February to four years and seven months\u2019 jail<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and a fine of $5,000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">In earlier proceedings, the court heard that the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) had contracted Certis to supply security officers to Jurong Port and Tuas Checkpoint.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The officers\u2019 tasks included taking enforcement action against people attempting to smuggle contraband items into Singapore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Haaziq, who was working at Jurong Port, was conducting routine checks in late 2020 when he got to know Sukaimi, and the pair became friends.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Around July 2022, Sukaimi approached Haaziq <!-- -->and told<!-- --> him that he intended to deal <!-- -->in<!-- --> contraband cigarettes. He told Haaziq to \u201cclose one eye\u201d whenever he passed through Haaziq\u2019s lane.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Haaziq\u00a0later\u00a0allowed Sukaimi to pass through his lane without conducting proper searches on his vehicle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohamed Riasudeen had said: \u201cAfter the first successful smuggling operation where the accused facilitated Sukaimi\u2019s exit from the port with contraband cigarettes&#8230; Sukaimi rewarded the accused by transferring between $50 and $100 via PayNow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Between Aug 10 and Nov 25, 2022, Haaziq received bribes totalling $1,572 from Sukaimi over 26 <!-- -->occasions<!-- -->.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The court heard that an integral component of the corrupt arrangement involved Haaziq providing Sukaimi with confidential information about his deployment schedule. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cWhenever Sukaimi approached the accused\u2019s lane, the latter would conduct a superficial check on Sukaimi\u2019s vehicle, allowing Sukaimi to pass through,\u201d said DPP Riasudeen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The offences came to light when Sukaimi\u2019s Malaysian driver, identified as\u00a0Mohd Hafiz Kamarulzaman, drove a car from his home country to Singapore at around 4.30am on April 19, 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">ICA officers stopped the vehicle at <!-- -->Tuas<!-- --> Checkpoint for <!-- -->inspection<!-- --> and uncovered 22 cartons as well as 470 packets of contraband cigarettes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Investigations revealed that Hafiz had <!-- -->communicated<!-- --> with Daniah through WhatsApp on a few earlier occasions when he was entering Singapore with contraband cigarettes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">These conversations helped him determine \u201csafer times\u201d to enter Singapore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Without revealing details, the DPP said Haaziq was arrested on July 15 that year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Court documents did not disclose if Hafiz has been charged or dealt with in court.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/courts-crime\/ex-certis-officer-who-took-over-1k-in-bribes-in-cigarette-smuggling-case-gets-17-months-jail\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SINGAPORE \u2013 A former Certis security officer\u00a0who\u00a0facilitated 26 cigarette smuggling operations and received $1,572 in bribes was sentenced to 17 months\u2019 jail on April 22&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}