URL：http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_489836.html
IMMIGRATION & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers have uncovered more than 1,900 cartons of contraband cigarettes in two separate smuggling attempts.
The haul, worth close to $144,000 in duties and taxes, were intercepted at the Tuas Checkpoint and Jurong Wharf on Wednesday.
In the first case at Tuas Checkpoint, two Malaysians were caught with 1,800 cartons of cigarettes hidden in a modified compartment within the floorboard of a trailer during a routine check.
In the second case, ICA officers at Jurong Wharf boarded a vessel that had arrived from Batam for a routine check. They found 100 cartons of cigarettes hidden under the floorboard in a storeroom of the vessel.
The two Malaysian drivers and five Indonesian crew on the vessel are helping Singapore Customs with investigations.
I refer to “Contraband cigarettes seized” by Wendy Lim published on Wednesday. This piece of news announced the discovery of two cigarette-smuggling events by IMMIGRATION & Checkpoints Authority (ICA). In my opinion, Singapore government and relative authorities like ICA need to pay more attention to this kind of issues.
Firstly, cigarette smuggling is not a felony but it should be treated carefully. According to my online research, smuggling cigarettes carries a maximum penalty of three years jail for a first-time offender in Singapore. So it is not a felonious act comparing to others like drug smuggling. However, it can cause a lot of problems to the economy and social stability as it is often related to illegal trade, unfair competition or black market.
Secondly, Singapore needs to be concerned with smuggling. It is always said that it is easier to govern small countries like Singapore. But actually, the market of a small country could be more easily affected by various factors. Once the balance in cigarette market is broken because of contrabandage, the consequences will be quite serious and the situation will be hard to deal with. Therefore, it is important for the government to nip cigarette smuggling in the bud to ensure a stable society.
I do appreciate the in-depth analysis of the issue made by Phyllis. In her comments, she did research on the penalty of cigarette smuggling and listed several negative consequences that smuggling will exert on the society. In addtion, she emphasized the importance of stopping cigarette smuggling. Logic flow and reasoning could be observed throughout the article.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with her that cigarette smuggling undermines the stability of the cigarette market. The cigarette could be sold in a much lower price in the absense of import tax and will definitely agitate cigarette market. Since tax of cigarette is an important source of government income, the government also suffers from such offendence.
In my opinion, various approaches should be taken to stop cigarette smuggling for the good of the government. For instance, the custom officer should keep random check of suspicious vessels and detect such goods with the aid of electronic devices to enhance the efficiency of checking. By this way, cases of cigarette smuggling will be gradually diminished.
I agree with Phyllis that cigarette contraband is one of the most important challenges facing the tobacco industry today. Contraband causes tobacconists and other retailers to lose sales. It causes domestic manufacturers to lose market share. It destroys jobs in both retailing and manufacturing. It causes manufacturers and others to lose their investments in quality distribution systems.
ReplyDeleteIt is said a smuggler buy 50 kg of duty-paid hand-rolling tobacco in Belgium and transport it in small cars to the UK, thus making a daily profit of UK&2000 Effective law enforcement is critical to the success of any anti-contraband effort. With the deterrent of stringent punishment, smuggler will reconsider whether it is worthy to commit the crime.
vivian