As the number of tourists increased in 2022, authorities saw a 15-fold rise in the number of individuals seeking to enter Singapore under a false or impersonated identity.
The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) announced on Friday that the number of such cases increased from 28 in 2021 to 441 in 2018.
Using "multi-modal biometric clearance systems" at the checkpoints increased the identification of travelers who attempted to enter Singapore using a false identity or an identity from a prior trip.
ICA reported that it cleared about 105 million travelers in 2018, compared to only six million in 2021.
With traffic volumes at land checkpoints nearly reverting to pre-COVID levels, the ICA said that "rigorous and frequent" enforcement activities contributed to the reduction of linked crime statistics.
The number of travelers using false or falsified documents increased from one in 2021 to twenty-one in 2022, according to ICA officials.
Away from the checkpoints, the ICA detained a greater number of immigration violators via in-country operations.
A total of 414 individuals were apprehended, 357 of them were overstayers — non-Singaporeans who remained in the country after the expiration of their visas. 299 overstayers were detained in 2021.
The remaining illegal immigrant arrests will increase slightly from 56 in 2021 to 57 in 2022.
However, the number of employers and harborers of immigration criminals declined by four percent, from 236 in 2021 to 226 in the current year.
"The bulk of harborers detained in 2022 were either family members or acquaintances of the immigration violators, who claimed to have forgotten to extend or renew the violators' immigration passes or to have failed to verify their immigration status," stated ICA.
The decrease in arrests can be attributable to the reduction in the number of harbourers apprehended, which will decrease from 184 in 2021 to 166 in 2022.
Eight further employers of immigration criminals were apprehended in 2022, for a total of sixty.
"The majority of employers did not exercise due diligence; they did not undertake checks before to hiring them or ensure that their immigration status in Singapore remained legitimate during the work period," according to ICA.
The agency stated that it will continue to "come down hard" on harborers and employers of immigration criminals in order to deny them refuge and means of subsistence, so making it impossible for them to remain in Singapore unlawfully.
ICA stated that employers and members of the public must discourage overstayers by denying them housing and employment and by reporting suspected cases.
The number of arrests for marriage-of-convenience (MOC)-related offenses increased from one to nine in 2018 compared to 2021.
Four couples and the man who planned the MOC for one of the captured couples were among the nine arrested.
"The foreign spouses participated in a marriage of convenience (MOC) to extend their stay in Singapore, with the local spouses getting monetary compensation for aiding in the application for immigration facilities," ICA stated.
Multiple efforts to transport considerable quantities of contraband and illegal narcotics into Singapore across land, air, and sea checks were thwarted, according to the ICA.
The number of contraband instances found increased dramatically between 2021 and 2022, from 27,000 to 35,000.
The ICA said that massive quantities of illicit cigarettes and substances were discovered concealed within legal shipments transported by trucks.
The methods of smuggling were described as "sophisticated," with criminals concealing drugs under the convertible's hood, spare tires, door panels, and other improvised compartments.
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