KUALA LUMPUR, August 21 — A 26-year-old Malaysian was arrested for attempting to smuggle 3,000 sachets of chewing tobacco into Singapore via the Tuas checkpoint last Friday.
Having noticed several anomalies in the window panels of the vehicle registered in Malaysia, Singapore immigration authorities became suspicious, before discovering that the car’s door panels were altered, with sachets behind them.
“Don’t ‘chew’ dare trick us!” Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said in a Facebook post yesterday.
“ICA will continue to conduct security checks on passengers and vehicles to prevent smuggling attempts of undesirable persons, drugs, weapons, explosives or other contrabands.”
The case was referred to Singapore’s Health Sciences Authority for further investigation.
Last month, 7,500 sachets of chewing tobacco were reportedly discovered hidden in a Malaysian-registered car, also at the Tuas checkpoint, under stacks of curry puffs.
The two Malaysians involved, aged 30 and 32, were also referred to the Health Sciences Authority.