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Singapore Customs and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) caught 115 travellers at Changi Airport for failing to declare and pay duties and goods and services tax (GST).

In a press release on May 29, Customs and ICA said the joint-enforcement operation took place from May 15 to 21.

The operation saw enhanced checks on inbound travellers at the arrival halls of all Changi Airport terminals.

Luggage belonging to arriving travellers were inspected for any undeclared dutiable and taxable goods, as well as any prohibited or controlled goods.

S$18,491 worth of duty and GST were recovered, and the total composition sum imposed was close to S$28,000.

Some of the cases highlighted by the authorities

A Singaporean man was caught with five undeclared luxury bags he and his girlfriend purchased overseas.

The five bags were valued at S$13,825, and the amount of GST was S$1,106.

A Singaporean woman was found with one undeclared luxury watch and one luxury bag.

The two items have a total value of S$5,637, and the amount of GST involved was S$450.96

A male foreigner was found with six packets of undeclared cigarettes wrapped in a "Happy Birthday" foil wrapper.

A male employment pass holder was found to have falsely declared a bottle of whisky as GST goods using the Customs@SG application to avoid paying S$15.14 for excise duty.

A screenshot from the Customs@SG app showed that the bottle was falsely declared as "GST goods" instead of "dutiable and taxable goods".

Under the Customs Act, any person who fraudulently evades or attempts to evade any customs duty or excise duty fraudulently can be fined up to 20 times the amount of duty and GST evaded or jailed for up to two years.

Top images via Singapore Customs & ICA.