A traveller was caught with undeclared luxury goods and Popmart toys, including a $109.90 Labubu doll, during a multi-agency enforcement operation between May 21 and 27 across Singapore’s land, air, and sea checkpoints.
The individual was among more than 19,000 people and 1,600 vehicles that the authorities conducted enhanced search on. More than 26,000 pieces of luggage were scanned or searched.
A total of 153 travellers were caught for failing to declare and pay taxes on tobacco products, liquor exceeding the duty-free allowance and goods exceeding the goods and services tax (GST) import relief allowances.
The cases included someone carrying 20 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes and another person with 4 litres of Chinese liquor. A total of $35,165 in fines was imposed.
Under the Customs Act, individuals involved in the fraudulent evasion of customs or excise duties may face a fine of up to 20 times the amount evaded or imprisonment of up to two years.
Five men, aged 26 to 45, were caught in possession of e-vaporisers upon entering Singapore. They were fined and five vapes were seized.
The possession, use or purchase of vapes carries a maximum fine of $2,000.
Fourteen travellers were caught moving cash exceeding S$20,000 (or its equivalent in foreign currencies) into and out of Singapore without declaration or with inaccurate declaration during the operations.
Four were issued with Notices of Warning, seven were issued with composition fines amounting to $27,000 while investigations into the remaining three travellers are ongoing.
One of the three was charged with possessing property which represented his benefits from criminal conduct.
The operation was conducted by officers from the Singapore Police Force, Immigration & Checkpoints Authority, Central Narcotics Bureau, Singapore Customs, National Parks Board and Health Sciences Authority.
Click here to contribute a story or submit it to our WhatsApp