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10 arrested for peddling illegal cigarettes
By Mustafa Shafawi | Posted: 12 April 2011 1342 hrs
Duty-unpaid cigarettes concealed in a modified compartment of the potted plant (Credit: Singapore Customs)
SINGAPORE: The authorities have arrested a Singaporean and nine Vietnamese men for peddling illegal cigarettes.
A total of 130 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized, with duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) exceeding S$1,000.
The Singaporean man was peddling the cigarettes out of a flower pot at Lorong 6 Geylang.
Customs officers who were keeping watch, saw him approached a flower pot along a walkway on the evening of the April 6. He lifted the plant to retrieve some packets of cigarettes and sell them to passers-by.
Investigations revealed that the man had ingeniously stuck soil and plants onto a thin circular piece of cardboard in the flower pot and pass it off as a normal-looking potted plant.
He is liable for enhanced punishment as he had been convicted previously for offences under the Customs Act.
While the Singaporean man was arrested for peddling his loot out of a flower pot, a Vietnamese man was caught for allegedly involved in illegal cigarette activities as well.
Officers keeping watch nearby spotted the man walking hurriedly towards an L-plate car parked along Geylang Road with a suspicious-looking brown bag in his hand. They found duty-unpaid cigarettes in the bag and in the car.
Further investigations found that the man had been engaged by an unknown fellow Vietnamese to hide the bag of cigarettes in the car as the latter had got wind of police presence in the vicinity.
Eight other Vietnamese were also caught for suspected peddling activities in the four-hour operation.
-CNA/ac
