A 37-year-old male Thai national, Pukma Suwat, was fined $22,000 by the court today for the illegal import of egg, meat and seafood products.
2 On 10 February 2020, Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers at Tuas Checkpoint conducted checks on a Thai-registered pickup truck driven by Suwat.
During the course of checks, ICA officers uncovered about 213kg of illegally imported egg, meat and seafood products in the vehicle. The case was referred to the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) for subsequent investigation.
3 SFA’s investigation found that the illegally imported products included chilled pork satay meat, soft-shell crabs, pork sausages and salted duck egg yolks. The illegal consignments were seized.
4 Illegally imported food products are of unknown sources and pose a food safety risk. In Singapore, food imports must meet SFA’s requirements and food safety standards. Food can only be imported by licensed importers, and every consignment must be declared and accompanied with a valid import permit. In addition, meat and eggs, and their products, can only be imported from accredited sources in approved countries that comply with Singapore’s food safety standards and requirements.
5 Offenders who illegally import meat products from unapproved sources are liable to a fine of $50,000 and/or imprisonment of up to two years and, in the case of a subsequent conviction, to a fine not exceeding $100,000 and/or to imprisonment of up to three years.
6 Safeguarding Singapore’s borders remains ICA’s top priority. The same methods of concealment used by contraband smugglers may be used by terrorists to smuggle arms and explosives to carry out attacks in Singapore. ICA will continue to conduct security checks on passengers, cargos and vehicles at the checkpoints to prevent attempts to smuggle undesirable persons, drugs, weapons, explosives and other contrabands across our borders. SFA will also continue to safeguard food safety through our integrated food safety system, which includes strict import regulations and enforcement, and work closely with border control agencies to deter illegal import across our borders.
Issued by the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority and Singapore Food Agency 19 February 2020
