Immigration & Checkpoints Authority officers keep Singapore's borders safe.

They keep a lookout for anything suspicious, even though thousands of border crossings take place daily.

A majority of these crossings are harmless, but once in a while, officers act on their suspicion and enforce the necessary checks.

Duty-paid cigarettes stuffed into pants

In this instance shared on the ICA Facebook page on Oct. 10, 2018, a suspicious bulge in a man's pants turns out to be more than meets the eye:

Duty-unpaid cigarettes illegal in Singapore

According to the post, the man tried to cross the Woodlands checkpoint into Singapore on Oct. 7 with four packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes concealed in his pants' waistline.

He was also carrying another packet in his bag.

As a result, the man was fined S$900 for committing the customs offence.

This was what the full post said:

No belt is large enough to hold your cigs

Checkpoint officer noticed an unusual bulge on the waist of a 39-year-old male Malaysian work permit holder when he arrived at Woodlands checkpoint on 7 Oct. Our officers found 4 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes concealed along the man’s waistline and another 1 packet in his bag.

The man was fined $900 for committing the customs offence.

This method of concealment is a cause for concern as similar methods may be used by people with ill intent to smuggle security items into Singapore.

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Clamping down on smoking and duty-unpaid cigarettes

Singapore has been getting tough on smokers and duty-unpaid cigarettes.

Enforcement action is carried out periodically across the island, where spot checks are carried out by the Singapore Customs to catch those in possession of cigarettes without the Singapore Duty-Paid Cigarette (SDPC) mark.