Are you thinking of bringing in that DVD from that… ahem, shop across the causeway? Are you thinking of bringing in just a packet of cigarettes that’s almost 1/2 the price in Singapore? Are you eyeing on that packet of weed that you had been dying to try and perhaps grow in your backyard? Well… you’d better think twice.

No, make it many times.

With Mas Selamat escaping from the detention center (or lying dead, whichever camp you belong to), security (has been given an excuse) to step up and strict, mandatory checks are carried out anywhere, everywhere.

If only Wireless@SG is even half as pervasive.

When the stricter checks were first implemented at the causeway, illegal immigrants were caught and - not deported back to Malaysia, but sent to the prisons in Singapore for caning before they are sent back after serving a prison term (during which, no toilet breaks will be allow, I reiterate).

And when this search and destroy and arrest was carried out in empty buildings, more illegal immigrants were caught and sent to The Gallows Cane. Indeed, Mas probably made more enemies after his escape than when he was still in detention.

Now, the Immigration and Checkpoint Authority (ICA) has seized over 2000 cartons of contraband cigarettes hidden in Malaysian vehicles; and the fine to be levied - up to 20 times the amount evaded.

So, before you smuggle that DVD from across the causeway, do think twice. They could jolly well pull an Adelaide on you.

MORE than 2,000 cartons and 619 packets of contraband cigarettes were seized at Woodlands Checkpoint on Tuesday.

This is the largest haul of contraband cigarettes seized this year by Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers.

The duty unpaid cigarettes were smuggled on a lorry driven by a Malaysian man and woman, who claimed to be transporting dustbin bags and calcium carbonate - a basic material for limestone and marble.

But further checks by immigration officers led to the discovery of the contraband goods hidden beneath the dustbin bags and calcium carbonate.

The potential Customs duty and GST value on the cigarettes amounted to over $160,000.

In a separate case on Tuesday, ICA officers uncovered 366 cartons of contraband cigarettes hidden in a Malaysian registered car at Woodlands Checkpoint.

The cigarettes were stuffed into the rear left panel of the boot, bonnet, seats, door panels and side skirting of the car, which was driven by a Malaysian couple.

The Customs duty and GST on the goods amounted to over $30,000.

The 21 year-old driver claimed to have been offered RM20 (S$8.60) to help smuggle the cigarettes into Singapore.

Both cases have been referred to Singapore Customs for further investigations.

If found guilty, first time offenders can be fined up to a maximum of 20 times the amount of duty evaded.

For second or subsequent convictions, offenders can be jailed for up to two years, as well as being fined. The offenders also face further fines based on the amount of GST evaded.

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 26th March 2008

Update: The Singapore Currency Act states that any person who prints or stamps or writes any mark, word, letter or figure on banknotes is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a maximum fine of $2,000 - so all of you who write telephone numbers on your money - especially the uncles and aunties, be prepared to lose more than the face value of your money. =P

Yes, apparently, not all $50 are equal. Some are worth more than its face value (the ones with special numbers, or well preserved old notes), some are worth what they are while others… are not worth a single cent at all. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has clarified that some of the notes which have the letterings "KF" imprinted on them are worthless. Yes, they are not worth a single cent and if you have any of these notes, you are pretty much screwed.

Ironically, some of these notes were withdrawn from an OCBC machine. The owner of these notes have since stomp’ed the picture of the notes. An article was also published in the Straits Times, with a clarification from MAS that these notes are multilated on purpose and are considered worthless. In the meantime, MAS has agreed to take these notes back as an act of grace and anyone with such notes may return them to the banks.

So, do check your money properly and reject any notes that are defaced. As a consumer, you have the rights to do so - even if it means receiving a bag of $1 coins because the cashier ran out of other notes. =)

WHEN Mr G.S. Lee withdrew some money from an OCBC Bank ATM at Compass Point earlier this month, three of his $50 notes seemed a bit strange - the letters ‘KF’ were on the top right hand corner.

The bank told him then that there was ‘no problem with the notes’, he said, but the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has since clarified that such notes have been mutilated on purpose and are therefore worthless.

The letters looked ‘legally imprinted’, said Mr Lee in an e-mail to The Straits Times online portal, Stomp, asking what the letters might mean. But ‘KF’ is not part of the $50 note’s design, said MAS’ spokesman, adding it did not know what ‘KF’ stood for.

‘Notes with such markings are considered to be deliberate mutilation and they command no value,’ she added.

Anyone who has notes with the markings can take them to the banks to be exchanged, she said, and MAS will take the notes back as an ‘act of grace’.

When contacted, OCBC’s head of group corporate communications Koh Ching Ching said currency could have become defaced while being circulated.

She said the bank’s ATMs will be checked so any other mutilated notes can be retrieved.

She added that OCBC’s tellers are ‘trained to look out for defaced or mutilated notes and handle them as per guidelines provided by MAS’, and that it has reminded its staff to be vigilant.

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 26th March 2008; picture courtesy of Stomp