Over 800kg of chewing tobacco seized in January by ICA

SINGAPORE - Customs officers seized more than 800kg of chewing tobacco at the Tuas checkpoint on two separate occasions in January.

In the first instance, Immigrations and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers found 113kg of chewing tobacco hidden in various parts of the cabin of a Malaysia-registered lorry on Jan 11, after identifying it for enhanced checks, the agency said on Facebook on Saturday.

Five days later, on Jan 16, ICA officers noticed anomalies in the scanned images of another Malaysia-registered lorry at the same checkpoint.

Officers found 749kg of chewing tobacco in its cargo consignment after conducting further checks.

Both the cases have been referred to the Health Sciences Authority for further investigations.

Chewing tobacco is prohibited and not allowed for import into Singapore.

In October last year, ICA officers foiled an attempt to smuggle 1,360kg of chewing tobacco through the Tuas Checkpoint, which also saw a haul of 77,500 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes confiscated.

Another case in June 2022 saw 639kg of chewing tobacco seized from a Malaysia-registered lorry transporting a consignment of concrete wall panels.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.