37 caught for storing, selling contraband cigarettes in flats over nine months of 2014
Published on Oct 28, 2014 1:46 PM
Contraband cigarettes stored in drawers in a HDB flat. 37 people were caught for storing and selling these duty-unpaid cigarettes to neighbourhood residents in the first nine months of this year. -- PHOTO: FACEBOOK/SINGAPORE CUSTOMS
By Hoe Pei Shan
SINGAPORE - In the first nine months of this year, 37 people were caught for storing contraband cigarettes in their HDB flats and selling these duty-unpaid cigarettes to neighbourhood residents.
Singapore Customs has since stepped up its enforcement efforts in the HDB heartlands to clamp down on such illegal activities, it said in a statement released Tuesday.
During a raid along Corporation Drive last month, enforcement officers recovered 660 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes and arrested the flat-owner, 51-year-old Sujono Bin Kassan.
Investigations revealed that the Singaporean had been selling cigarettes worth some $7,000 in unpaid duty and Goods and Services taxes to residents in his neighbourhood. Sujono was sentenced last Thursday to three months' imprisonment and fined $3,000.
