A total of 17,279 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes and a van were seized by Singapore Customs in its largest inland haul this year, with the total duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) evaded exceeding $1.87 million. A 27-year-old Singaporean van driver and three Indian nationals — aged 30, 36, and 39 — were arrested in two raids on Nov 30 and Dec 1 in Pandan Loop and Jurong Port Road, said the agency in a statement on Monday (Dec 8). On Nov 30, Customs officers spotted a Singapore-registered van reversing into the loading bay of an industrial building in Pandan Loop. Three men then loaded brown boxes into the vehicle. A search of the van found 2,400 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes. The men then led officers to a unit in the building, where 3,195 more cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were found. The contraband and van were seized, while the four men were arrested. 

A Tiger God statue made of clay was stolen at a Chinese temple in Balestier on Saturday (Dec 6) shortly past midnight. Calling the theft “disrespectful to the deity”, Rochore Tua Pek Kong Temple on 249 Balestier Road urged the culprit to “do the right thing”. In a Facebook post on Sunday, the temple wrote that closed-circuit television footage captured an elderly man loitering around the altar for about 30 minutes till 12.15am on Dec 6. The statue, one of seven in the temple, pays tribute to the Tiger Deity who is believed to protect people against evil spirits. “We sincerely appeal to the person involved to return the statue immediately and in its original condition”, they said, adding that the statue “belongs to the community”. “Failing which, we will resort to legal action and press criminal charges.” AsiaOne has contacted Rochore Tua Pek Kong and the police for more information. [[nid:725902]]chingshijie@asiaone.com

The Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) has taken Courts and Prism+ to task over unfair practices. In a media release on Monday (Dec 8), the consumer watchdog said that the two retailers of consumer electronics and home appliances have used website design features that mislead consumers. «Courts automatically added unsolicited items into consumers' shopping carts, while Prism+ used fake countdown timers and misleading stock indicators to pressure consumers into purchases,» CCS added. The agency said both retailers have since given an undertaking to CCS not to engage in unfair trade practices. Unsolicited items added to cart by CourtsCourts was found to have charged consumers for products they never selected. In one complaint raised by a consumer who selected an Apple iPad for purchase, an Acer vacuum cleaner was added to the consumer's checkout cart. This practice puts consumers at risk of unknowingly paying for the unsolicited items if they fail to notice and remove such items before checkout. 

[allAfrica]

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