Cigarettes sold legally at coffeeshops cost about $11 a packet.

The price hikes for contraband cigarettes have been noticed on Lorongs 14, 10, and 6 in Geylang.

A former cigarette tout, a 25-year-old who wanted to be known only as Mr Mohammad, said: 'The increased checks at the borders make it harder for supplies to reach Singapore.

'Also, nobody wants to volunteer to sell the cigarettes in open areas like before. These are the reasons for the price hike.'

Checks by The New Paper this week found that the touts often seen waving packs of cigarettes at passing motorists on Upper Bukit Timah Road were gone.

The stretch of road between Yew Tee industrial estate and Dairy Farm Road, once a haven for contraband cigarette peddlers, was also clear of touts and the rubbish they leave behind.

Mr Mohammad said: 'For the last three years, every time there was a raid at Yew Tee (industrial estate) the foreign peddlers would soon return.

'Now this is the worst time to be an outdoor cigarette peddler. All thanks to one man, Mas Selamat.'

Previously, peddlers would emerge from nearby forests at night to sell their contraband and, at the first sign of trouble, melt away into the forest again.

But the forests are no longer good hiding places, said Mr Mohammad.

'The game is different now as you are no longer contending with only Customs or ICA (Immigration and Checkpoints Authority). You are facing an army of hunters from the police, army, Gurkha (regiment), ICA and Customs.

'You can run, but I don't think you can hide from them for too long if you're in this business,' he said.

Since Mas Selamat's escape on 27Feb, more than 50 forested areas across Singapore have been searched, with at least 66 illegal immigrants being arrested.

Attempts at smuggling contraband into Singapore during this period have also been exposed.

Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng recently announced that the next phase of the search involved 'more targeted and specific operations based on leads and intelligence'.

BIGGEST CATCH

The largest contraband cigarette haul this year - nearly 430,000 sticks - was found in a Malaysia-registered lorry by ICA at the Woodlands Checkpoint on 25 Mar.

For the time being, the illegal cigarette trade is expected to remain active in urban areas because touts can run and blend in with the crowd, said Mr Mohammad.

If the prices continue to rise, the touts may start losing their customers.

Said one smoker: 'Might as well smoke legal cigarettes if contraband ones cost almost the same.'

Singapore Customs said nine major operations were conducted over the past three months in Geylang, resulting in the arrest of 27 illegal peddlers and 123 buyers.

A total of 20,315 packets of contraband cigarettes were seized.

Elsewhere in Singapore, some old haunts in Hong Kah, Jalan Kayu and Woodlands used by illegal immigrants also seemed to have been abandoned.

Said nature lover Gary Sng, 46: 'These days I rarely bump into foreigners living in makeshift camps on my weekly walks on forest trails.'

A former illegal immigrant from China, Mr Han, said illegals hiding in wooded areas can be caught off guard as they might not know about the manhunt.

But Mr Han, who was jailed six months after being on the run for about a year, added that these illegals might not have much of a choice.

'If you are seen hanging around in an urban area late at night, the chances of the police stopping to check are high. Hiding in a secluded wooded area is still the best bet.'

This story was first published in The New Paper on Apr 5, 2008.