A 23-year-old male driver was caught trying to smuggle a live bird inside a potato chips tube at Woodlands Checkpoint on May 27.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday (May 30), the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority said its officers found the tube in the glove compartment of a Malaysia-registered car.
Photos accompanying the post show the bird and the tube for seaweed-flavoured chips.
The case was referred to the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) for further investigations, and the bird is currently under its care.
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"Smuggled animals are of unknown health status and may introduce exotic diseases, such as avian influenza, to Singapore," added ICA in the post titled 'Potato chirp chirp'.
Under the Animals and Birds Act, the importation of any animals or live birds into Singapore without a licence is illegal and carries a maximum penalty of a $10,000 fine and/or a jail term of up to one year.