ICA foils 2 vape smuggling attempts within 4 hours, 16,000 e-cigarettes seized

ICA officers foil 2 vape smuggling attempts within 4 hours on 2 Feb

It’s not uncommon to hear about Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers uncovering contraband items on vehicles entering Singapore.

2 Feb, however, turned out to be a particularly ‘eventful’ day for officers at Tuas Checkpoint.

In a matter of hours, they foiled two attempts to smuggle contraband e-vaporisers through Malaysia-registered lorries.

More than 16,000 pieces of e-vaporisers were seized from both vehicles.

ICA officers find vapes in lorries carrying bars and aluminium rods

According to a Facebook post by the ICA on Thursday (21 March), the two smuggling attempts happened within four hours of each other at Tuas Checkpoint.

Both incidents happened on the night of 2 Feb and involved Malaysia-registered lorries entering Singapore.

In the first case, ICA officers detected anomalies in the scanned image of a lorry carrying consignments of bars and aluminium rods.

Further checks revealed 9,790 pieces of assorted e-vaporises hidden in the lorry cabin.

The contraband items were hidden in boxes wrapped in black plastic and covered with blankets.

More than 16,000 e-vaporisers seized from both vape smuggling attempts

The second case also involved a lorry, but this time, it was carrying a load of security seals.

Upon conducting further checks, ICA officers found 6,224 pieces of e-vaporisers concealed in boxes in the middle section of the container.

The ICA has referred both cases to the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) for further investigations.

Earlier this year, ICA officers found e-vaporisers on 177 people at Changi Airport. 61 of them were issued fines.

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Featured image adapted from Immigration & Checkpoints Authority on Facebook.