Woman, 19, caught at checkpoint with 6 undeclared toys in excess of GST import relief allowance
A 19-year-old woman was caught travelling with six undeclared toys in excess of goods and services tax (GST) import relief allowance in a multi-agency enforcement operation conducted by the authorities from Feb 19 to 25.
A 45-year-old male traveller was found with 24 packets of undeclared duty-unpaid cigarettes. Another man, 57, brought in 4 litres of liquor, exceeding his duty-free allowance.
All three were fined.
The total duty and GST evaded was $1,285. Composition fines amounting to $21,455 were imposed.
Under the Customs Act, anyone involved in any fraudulent evasion or attempted fraudulent evasion of any customs duty or excise duty shall be guilty of an offence and may be liable for a fine of up to 20 times the amount of duty and GST evaded or imprisonment of up to two years.
The week-long operation was conducted by the police, Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, Singapore Customs and Health Sciences Authority (HSA) across the island's land, air and sea checkpoints.
Enhanced checks were conducted on about 11,000 travellers with more than 16,000 pieces of luggage and hand-carry bags searched.
Four men and one woman, aged 37 to 63, were caught moving undeclared cash amounts of between $23,000 and over $93,000 into and out of Singapore. One of them was issued a notice of warning while the other four were fined a total of $21,000.
Failure to declare cash amount exceeding $20,000 or its equivalent in foreign currency is an offence, carrying an imprisonment term of up to three years, a fine of up to $50,000 or both.
A 29-year-old male foreign traveller was also found with an e-vaporiser on Feb 24 and was issued a fine by HSA.
The offence of importing, distributing, selling or offering for sale e-vaporisers carries a fine of up to $20,000 or imprisonment of up to 12 months, or both if it is a subsequent offence.
All prohibited tobacco products will be seized and confiscated.
