Jump to full article: AsiaOne (sg), 2009-08-12
Intro: During a joint operation conducted by the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) and the Police K-9 Unit, a police dog named "Car" foiled a smuggler's attempt to conceal duty-unpaid cigarettes in car door panels.
This is the first case that a sniff dog had detected illegal cigarettes at the checkpoints.
On August 4 at the Woodlands Checkpoint, officers stopped a Singapore-registered vehicle for checks. Noticing that the driver appeared nervous, the officer proceeded to conduct a dog search on the vehicle.
During the search, "Car" pointed out a few areas of the vehicle such as the car door panels, back seat and the spare tyre compartment. True enough, a total of 1,305 packets of illegal cigarettes were found in the areas which the police dog had shown positive indication during sniffing.
The Singaporean driver was arrested. The vehicle and contraband cigarettes were also seized. Investigations revealed that the man had been hired by syndicates to smuggle duty-unpaid cigarettes using vehicles.
The man would be paid $500 if the cigarettes were successfully smuggled.
For his involvement with dealing and conveying duty-unpaid goods, which were offences under the Customs and GST Acts, the Singaporean man was sentenced by the court on 5 August to six months' jail.
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