SINGAPORE: At about 9pm on Tuesday (Oct 8)fox.game, a group comprising 12 members of the media shuffled into two vans with personnel from the Singapore Customs.
We had no clue where we were headed to and only knew that there had been an enforcement operation on duty-unpaid liquor.
While these operations occur regularly, this was the first time the media had been invited to witness one.
Pulling up under a Housing Board (HDB) block in the Jurong West area, CNA observed that a truck had been cordoned off at the loading/unloading bay.
Customs officers flanked the vehicle, inspecting boxes of contraband liquor.
A total of 129 bottles containing two litres of baijiu - clear Chinese liquor with an alcohol content of 56 per cent - were found in the back as well as under the front passenger seat of a truck used for delivering the contraband goods.
These were among the 257 bottles that were seized during enforcement operations at several locations against peddlers and buyers earlier this week, Singapore Customs said in a media release on Friday. The total estimated volume of duty-unpaid liquor seized was around 668.5 L.
The truck as well as two distillery machines were also seized during the operations.
The total estimated duty and GST evaded amounted to about $35,932 (US$27,521), Singapore Customs said.
Two male Chinese nationals and a Malaysian woman, aged between 42 and 63, were arrested for delivering contraband liquor.
A 45-year-old Singaporean man was also arrested for storing duty-unpaid liquor in his residence, said Singapore Customs, adding that investigations are ongoing.
From January to June this year, there have been 869 duty-unpaid liquor offenders, according to statistics provided by the customs.
During this period, a total volume of 10,020L of contraband liquor were seized.
Boxes of duty-unpaid liquor found in a truck under a HDB block in Jurong West. (Photo: CNA/Ili Nadhirah Mansor)
Boxes of duty-unpaid liquor found in a truck under a HDB block in Jurong West. (Photo: CNA/Ili Nadhirah Mansor)
Duty-unpaid liquor found in the front passenger seat of a truck under a HDB block in Jurong West. (Photo: CNA/Ili Nadhirah Mansor)DID IT FOR EXTRA CASHThe operation that the media witnessed on Tuesday night involved the 42-year-old Chinese national, who is a work permit holder.
CNA observed that he was seated in a car with officers, just a short distance away from the seized truck.
Speaking briefly to a reporter in Mandarin, the man said he has been in Singapore for five years and had been delivering duty-unpaid liquor for about a year.
While he knew doing so was illegalfox.game, he said he wanted to make some extra cash as he had old parents and young children back home.
The 42-year-old Chinese national said he had been delivering duty-unpaid liquor for about a year. (Photo: CNA/Ili Nadhirah Mansor)