A security officer allegedly received a bribe of almost $5,000 to allow smuggled cigarettes through S’pora

SINGAPORE – A senior security officer allegedly accepted at least $4,750 in bribes more than 32 times from shipping company employees who are said to be members of a cigarette smuggling syndicate.

In a statement, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau said Ahmad Khamis allegedly did this in exchange for allowing syndicate members to smuggle smuggled cigarettes past the security post at the Chevron Penjuru terminal into Singapore.

Ahmad, 64, who worked for Pico Guards at the time, is accused of committing crimes between 2019 and 2022. He reportedly received money from Abdul Rahman, Abdul Wahab, Vadivalu Dharman, Teku Raja Suresh and Roslan Selamat, who were then working at Eng Hup Shipping.

It is also alleged that Ahmad deliberately helped Roslan and one Mohd Sallah Ahmad deal with an unknown quantity of unpaid duty cigarettes by allowing the buggy they were laden to pass through a checkpoint at the Chevron Singapore fuel company site at Jalan Buroh, off Jurong Port Road. , around 3 a.m. on December 24, 2022.

On November 22, 2024, Ahmad was charged with 13 bribery charges and two further charges under the Customs Act related to cigarette smuggling. He is expected to plead guilty on January 3, 2025.

Roslan, 65, was charged with four counts of bribery totaling $1,000 and two charges under the Customs Act.

He was allegedly involved in a conspiracy with Abdul Rahman, Vadivalu and Teku to bribe Ahmad in 2022.

Teck, 41, was charged with four counts of corruption totaling $700.

He is accused of being part of a conspiracy with Vadivalu, Abdul Rahman, Roslan and one Ratnakumar Deepan to transfer bribes to Ahmad between 2020 and 2022.

The hearing of the cases of Teku and Roslan has been postponed to December.

Court documents do not reveal the outcome of the cases involving Abdul Rahman, Vadivalu, Ratnakumar and Salleh.

Each corruption charge can result in an offender being jailed for up to five years and fined up to $100,000.