Police investigating 20 suspected gun parts found in postal parcel on transshipment
Twenty items suspected to be gun parts that were uncovered by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority from a parcel.
SINGAPORE — Police are investigating a parcel containing 20 items suspected to be gun parts that was uncovered at Changi Airfreight Centre’s Airmail Transit Centre last Saturday (June 29).
In a Facebook post on Friday, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said one of its officers noticed anomalies in the scanned images of the parcel, which was declared as “merchandise”.
The case was handed over to the Singapore police for further investigations.
When contacted on Sunday, the police said investigations on the parcel, which was on transshipment from one country to another via Singapore, are still ongoing.
ICA posted pictures of the suspected gun parts on its Facebook page, which showed almost identical black barrels that were individually packed in ziplock bags. The barrels appeared to be lubricated with an oily-looking substance.
TODAY understands that it has not been verified as of Sunday if the parts indeed belong to a gun.
If they are confirmed to be gun parts, the case will come under the Arms and Explosives Act. The law states that anyone who knowingly conceals any gun, arms, explosives or poisonous or noxious substances, imported unlawfully or without a licence, can be jailed for up to three years and fined up to S$5,000.
The ICA said on Friday that the same methods of concealment may be used by terrorists to smuggle arms and explosives to carry out attacks in Singapore.
Even as the number of postal articles processed had spiked over the years with the growth of e-commerce, the ICA said: “Our borders are our first line of defence in safeguarding Singapore’s security.
“ICA will continue to conduct security checks on passengers and vehicles to prevent smuggling attempts of undesirable persons, drugs, weapons, explosives or other contrabands.”
