SINGAPORE-  A wrong turn by a driver of a Malaysian-registered prime mover not only caused him to knock into a pillar at the Tuas Checkpoint on Friday morning but also, unraveled one of the biggest hauls of contraband cigarettes in recent years.

The damage as a result of the collision

Boxes of the declared goods meticulously stacked up to surround the contrabands

The prime mover that was used to convey the duty-unpaid cigarettes

Officers found a total of 8,349 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes.

The 47-year-old Malay driver had declared the vehicle to contain a consignment of plastic storage containers but was directed to the Arrival Cargo Zone for physical inspection after a routine scan showed anomalies in the images.

The wrong turn he took caused the collision which damaged and dislodged the metal cladding of the pillar.

Preliminary investigation found that the man did not have the required class of license to handle the prime mover.

Having caused damage to the government's property, the man was referred to the police for follow up investigation.

His company was then contacted to send a relief driver to take over the vehicle.

The replacement driver and an assistant bore witness to the inspection of the truck by Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) and Singapore Customs (SC) officers who unloaded boxes of plastic storage containers from the truck.

The first few rows of boxes contained the declared cargo but as the officers searched further, duty-unpaid cigarettes were found to be hidden in the same look alike boxes that were carefully hidden within the declared cargo.
The potential customs duty and GST payable for the contraband cigarettes amount to S$587,800 and S$53,200 respectively.

Both Malaysian drivers claimed that they were engaged by a "Mr Foo", also a Malaysian, to deliver the goods as the driver had gotten into an accident and each of them was to be paid RM200 (S$83) when they returned to Malaysia.

"Mr Foo" had also arranged for a car outside the Tuas Checkpoint to lead them to the delivery venue, as they were unfamiliar with the roads in Singapore.

The drivers are currently assisting the SC in its investigations.