Singapore News - At first glance, the plump, gold ingot-wielding figurines look like the benevolent smiling Chinese God of Fortune. But officers from the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) were not easily taken in when carrying out X-ray checks. They discovered a total. Read more at www.tnp.sg
SINGAPORE - At first glance, the plump, gold ingot-wielding figurines look like the benevolent smiling Chinese God of Fortune. But officers from the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) were not easily taken in when carrying out X-ray checks. They discovered a total of 11,285 cartons and 7,685 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes found hidden inside the figurines on a Malaysia-registered lorry.
It seems like the God of Fortune doesn t bless everyone with luck and wealth, especially contraband cigarette smugglers.
In a Facebook post posted on Jan. 16, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) shared that they discovered 11,285 cartons and 7,684 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes on Jan. 13.
ICA managed to foil the smuggling attempt, which included the involvement of a Malaysia-registered lorry that was trying to enter Singapore via the Woodlands Checkpoint. Photo from Immigration & Checkpoints Authority s Facebook page.
Hidden in CNY-related figurines
According to the post, the officers noticed anomalies in the x-ray images of consignments which consisted of Chinese New Year-related figurines.