A PETTY smuggler was fined $30,000 on Tuesday for having 3.5kg of duty-unpaid cigarettes and not paying Goods and Services Tax.

Security guard Jamil Ismail, 49, pleaded guilty last month to having 63 packets of tobacco leaves or shag tobacco and 279 sticks of kretek cigarettes on which excise duty of $1,239 was unpaid at the arrival hall of the Singapore Cruise Centre on Jan 21.

The GST on the $1,304 worth of goods amounted to $91.

When he arrived from Batam that evening, an officer searched his luggage bag and found a tin with 15 cigarettes.

Asked if he had any more, he surrendered a packet kept in the pocket of his jacket.

The officer searched his hand luggage again and found 87 empty tobacco packets and wrappers

A body search revealed a piece of red cloth with 31 slots strapped around his stomach.

Each slot had packets of shag tobacco and sticks of cigarettes tucked around his waist.

Investigation showed that Jamil had intended to sell the duty-unpaid cigarettes and shag tobacco to potential buyers at his workplace for a profit.

Pressing for a jail sentence, Customs prosecutor Ramesh Ananda said petty smuggling of cigarettes and tobacco products by arriving passengers was becoming alarmingly rampant, and must be severely dealt with.

Petty smuggling, he said, has jumped by more than 200 per cent last year, with the number of tobacco product cases up two-fold compared to the previous year.

Pleading for leniency, the father of three said he had had a spine operation about five years ago and had difficulty securing a job.

District Judge Toh Yung Cheong said a sentence above the usual benchmark should be imposed in view of the aggravating factors in this case.

Jamil could have been fined between $18,580 and $24,774 or jailed for up to three years, or both, on the cigarettes charge.

The penalty for the GST charge is a fine of between $1,369 and $10,000 or three years jail, or both.