Latest news about crime and security in Singapore. Information about the black market in Singapore is collected from international organizations, intelligence reports, national security agencies and news articles.
Customs Officials across Europe seized 2.1 million fake toys in 2011. The number of counterfeits seized was 68 percent less than the 6.7 million counterfeit toys seized EU borders in 2010.
42,967 of the toys were seized in the United Kingdom.
87 percent of the seized toys originated from China, followed by 10 percent from Hong Kong and 0.64 percent from Singapore.
Source: Dominic Sacco, “Customs seize fewer fake toys,” Toy News, March 18, 2013.
Between 2010 and 2011, lawyers in Singapore convicted 44 individuals for violating anti-money laundering policies, according to the Commercial Affairs Department.
During that same time period, $10.9 Million (130 Million Singaporean Dollars) in criminal proceeds were seized by police and law enforcement officials during criminal investigations.
Source: “Singapore tough on money laundering,” Asia One, November 13, 2012.
Between 2000 and 2010, over 54,000 wild birds were trafficked through the Solomon Islands and into the global wildlife trade, according to wildlife monitoring organization Traffic. Many of the birds, such as parrots and cockatoos, are not native to the islands and are believed to have been smuggled into the country.
93 percent of the birds during the time period were imported to Malaysia and Singapore.
Source: AFP, “Wild birds ‘smuggled through Solomon Islands’,” Google News, July 17, 2012.
An article by the AFP reported that runners for illegal gambling rings can make between $1,566 to $2,349 (2,000 to 3,000 Singapore Dollars) a day handling bets.
Source: AFP, “From Euros, to dollars, to Asian match-fixing,” Dawn, June 24, 2012.
Police in Vietnam reported that beauty queens and fashion models from Vietnam were going on sex tours to Singapore with wealthy clients. The men paid $25,000 for a three-day tour with the prostitutes.
In the first half of 2012, police in Ho Chin Min City broke up 43 prostitution rings, and sent 46 women to prostitution rehabilitation centers.
Source: “Fighting prostitution, gambling in Vietnam getting tougher: police,” Than Nien News, June 13, 2012.
Between 45 to 50 percent of all Internet users in Singapore are believed to access pirated entertainment content, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). There are around 300,000 incidents of illegally downloading of movies, music and other content each month.
Source: Sophie Hong, “Half of all netizens here access illegal download sites,” Asia One, May 3, 2012.
Police in Singapore received 43 reports of sex trafficking in 2011, along with 67 reports of labor trafficking.
The national hotline where people are able to report human trafficking cases was receiving an average of 10 to 20 phone calls a day. Sexual exploitation and sex trafficking consists of half the calls to the hotline.
Source: Saifulbahri Ismail, “Research is key to understanding human trafficking in S’pore,” Channel News Asia, April 1, 2012.
The Law Minister of Singapore reported to Parliament that an estimated 300,000 cases of Internet piracy takes place in Singapore each month.
Source: Teo Xuanwei, “Singaporeans among worst online piracy offenders,” Today Online, March 7, 2012.
In 2010, police in Singapore arrested 702 methamphetamine users in the country. 531, or 76 percent of those arrested, were classified as new users of the drug.
Source: The New Paper, “Ice is new hot drug for youth here,” Asia One, December 7, 2011.
Between January and October 2011, authorities in Singapore arrested 44 people for drug smuggling crimes within the country.
Source: Asia News Network, “44 Singaporeans nabbed for drug trafficking this year,” Asian One, October 21, 2011.
