46-year-old Goh Keng Siong has been fined $107,500 for creating fraudulent cigarette orders and smuggling the cartons for his own illegal sale in Geylang.

Goh's duty as a delivery clerk was to take orders and deliver dutiable goods such as liquor, beer and cigarettes to ships berthed and anchored in Singapore. But on July 1, instead of ordering the stipulated amount of goods, he "helped himself" to an extra 50 cartons of cigarettes by amending the original order he had received from the ship.

The order list was then handed to a colleague for clearance and a few days later, he loaded the cigarettes together with other items onto his van. He then drove the van to his flat.

After unloading the cigarettes at his house, he drove back to the port with the ship's order, along with the empty box that originally contained the cigarettes. The box was discovered and on further questioning, Goh admitted to removing the cigarettes.

Customs officials searched Goh's flat and found a total of 642 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes, in which 142 of them were from a previous order scam. Goh had intended to sell these cigarettes for a profit.

He was arrested and charged in court for offences under the Customs Act.

Such offenders face a minimum fine of $500 for possessing a packet of duty-unpaid cigarettes.

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