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A Malaysian bus driver’s attempt to smuggle cigarettes into Singapore ended in failure after he was arrested following the discovery of the contraband in the republic on May 15.
A video uploaded on Instagram showed officers from Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) successfully seizing more than 3,200 cartons and 40 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes before they could be distributed on the market.
The cigarettes were found inside a workers’ bus, or the blue “bas kilang” as it’s more commonly known here, driven by a 42-year-old Malaysian man.
According to ICA, the seizure was made after officers detected anomalies during the scanning process of the bus.
Authorities later broke open sections of the vehicle’s flooring before uncovering part of the hidden cigarette stash.
Additional cigarettes were also concealed within the bus chassis near the storage compartment area.
In the comment section, several Singaporean netizens questioned why smugglers were still attempting to bring cigarettes into the country despite its notoriously strict laws and enforcement.
Others, however, pointed out that Singapore’s extremely high cigarette prices continue to fuel smuggling activities.
It is no secret that Singapore has among the highest cigarette prices in the world, with a pack of 20 cigarettes costing between S$16 and S$18 (approximately RM53 to RM60).
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