Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers seized a total of 7,484 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes from two Malaysia-registered trucks on June 28.
At about 2am that day, the officers had directed an unladen Malaysia-registered cargo truck for checks at Tuas checkpoint arrival zone.
During the course of checks, officers found black polythene boxes concealed below the floorboard of the truck. The boxes were later found to contain duty-unpaid cigarettes, ICA said in a press release.
Less than an hour later at 2.50am, in another unladen Malaysia-registered cargo truck, similar black polythene packages containing duty-unpaid cigarettes beneath the floorboard.
Both male Malaysian drivers, aged 35 and 42 years old, duty-unpaid cigarettes and vehicles were handed over to Singapore Customs for further investigations.
The vehicles used in the commission of such offences is liable to be forfeited. The duty and Goods and Services Tax of the duty-unpaid cigarettes for the two cases amounted to about S$702,927 and S$51,240 respectively.
