You know the drill: Chinese New Year looms and bak kwa prices soar, and bargain hunters in Singapore go across the Causeway for cheaper alternatives.

Yes, it is 2019, and yes, this practice is still illegal.

On Jan. 17, the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority shared a post about two separate cases where Singaporeans tried to game the system by hiding bak kwa in packets labelled as durian-flavoured biscuits.

ICA officers noticed packets of layered stacks resembling bak kwa in the scanned images of hand-carried bags belonging to a female, 39, and a male, 29.

Both travellers are Singaporeans.

Upon opening the packets of biscuits, slices of bak kwa were found.

Both cases were referred to Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) for further investigation.

Not new

Such tactics are not new.

ICA shared the exact same modus operandi on Facebook back in 2018.

Controlled item

Singaporeans are reminded that bak kwa is a controlled item subjected to travellers’ allowance from approved countries.

There are currently only 22 AVA-approved countries, including Canada, Netherlands and the United States, for the import of pork and pork products to Singapore.

Travellers are not allowed to bring in meat, meat products and eggs from Malaysia.

Livestock, meat and meat products can be imported only from sources that meet AVA’s animal health and food safety standards.

Happy shopping. For other stuff.