SINGAPORE - Immigration and Checkpoint Authority (ICA) officers seized a total of 7,559 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden in the cargoes of two Malaysia-registered lorries at the Tuas Checkpoint on Monday (Sept 28).

Three Malaysian men, aged 22, 25 and 41, were handed over to the Singapore Customs for further investigations.

The total duty, and goods and services tax (GST) evaded by the smugglers amounted to about $656,299 and $52,981 respectively.

At around 4am on Monday, ICA officers stopped the first lorry when they noticed anomalies in the scanned images of the lorry.

Further checks revealed 5,059 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden in a consignment of tissue rolls.

About 10 minutes later, another Malaysia-registered lorry was directed by ICA officers for further checks, which found 2,500 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden in boxes containing pineapples.