Contraband cigarettes hidden in a modified Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) tank of a car; ICA
The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) recently announced a 22 percent decrease in Immigration Offenders (IO) and a three percent increase in contraband smuggling in the first half of this year as compared to the same period last year.
Among the IOs arrested from January to June 2014, 203 are illegal immigrants and 817 are overstayers. The drop in numbers could be the result of ICA’s multi-pronged approach, consisting of laws, strict border checks and public awareness programmes.
109 harbourers and 40 employers of IOs were also arrested; this is 11 percent lower than the numbers from the same period last year.
Contraband smuggling, however, saw an increase of three percent from 46,300 to 47,800 cases. Commonly found items include throwing knives, pepper spray, night vision binoculars, birds and puppies.
It is understood that contraband smugglers have been returning to old methods like hiding illegal items in CNG tanks of cars, hollow plywood doors and remodelled floorboards of vans.
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