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CUSTOMS officers have uncovered a cigarette-smuggling ploy using wooden table tops to conceal contraband cigarettes in a major anti-smuggling operation on Thursday.
Seven men - four Chinese nationals and three Singaporeans, aged between 34 and 57 years - were arrested.
A total of 54,390 packets of cigarettes worth about $500,000 were seized. The duty and GST on the seized cigarettes amounted to $417,000.
On Thursday at about 4pm, customs officers began staking out at a warehouse in Tuas. At about 10.50pm, the officers spotted a lorry leaving the compound. The lorry was trailed to a location near Gul Circle where it was joined by a van. When the two drivers started transferring boxes from the lorry to the van, the officers moved in.
10,750 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized from the vehicles. The two drivers were arrested.
At the same time, another team of officers raided the warehouse where stacks of table tops and cardboard boxes were strewn on the floor.
Four men were in the midst of retrieving cartons of cigarettes from the hollow underside of the table tops and repacking them into the boxes. All four were arrested and 43,640 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized.
Follow-up investigations led to the arrest of another Singaporean man suspected to have assisted in the loading of the cigarettes into the lorry earlier.
If convicted, the offenders can be jailed as well as fined, while the vehicles used can be forfeited.
The public are also advised against buying duty-unpaid cigarettes. Buyers can face a minimum fine of $500 or prosecution in court, says Singapore Customs.
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