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Singapore. The number of foreigners entering Singapore illegally and staying on without papers fell to an 11-year low last year.

The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA), in releasing its annual report of statistics for last year, said yesterday that 3,110 immigration offenders were arrested, down from 4,260 the year before.

This figure has been falling since 2001.

The ICA credited its stepped-up checks and surveillance of Singapore’s borders, as well as its collaboration with the police and the Ministry of Manpower, for the continuing dip in numbers.

Among those arrested, individuals who had entered the country legally but stayed on after their visas expired made up the majority — 2,180 or 70 per cent of the 3,110 immigration offenders.

Illegal immigrants made up the remaining 930, or 30 per cent. They had either sneaked into the country by bypassing the proper entry channels, or used fraudulent travel documents or those belonging to someone else.

Some of the 2,180 overstayers were caught trying to leave the country, at times with the help of human smuggling syndicates, said the ICA.

One tactic used by overstayers is to try leaving Singapore in cars, with a piece of cloth thrown over themselves for cover.

This did not work for a Bangladeshi aged 37 last Wednesday. Crouching under black cloth on the floor of the back seat of a car driven by a Malaysian, he was caught.

Seven vehicles were seized at the checkpoints last year for having been used to carry immigration offenders, down from 18 the previous year.

Singapore Management University law lecturer Eugene Tan, who studies social and immigration issues, said: “Given Singapore’s role as a major trans-shipment hub, the significant tourist arrivals and the movement of people between Singapore and Malaysia through the Causeway, the figures are to some extent impressive. We don’t get the sense that illegal immigration is out of control.”

An ICA spokesman said new technology such as the i-Faces biometric system has boosted screening efforts. The system can recognise the facial features of past immigration offenders, even those using fake travel documents.

The stepped-up surveillance of Singapore’s borders at sea by the Police Coast Guard also helped. Attempts to enter the country by that route have fallen in number.

The ICA spokesman added that, through its tie-ups with the police and the Manpower Ministry, it spread the message of the consequences of housing and hiring immigration offenders.

The number of individuals who harboured and employed illegal immigrants fell last year. The number of those who employed these illegals fell by almost half from 77 in 2010 to 40 last year; those harbouring them fell from 26 in 2010 to 23 last year.

But while the immigration situation improved, the ICA battled a surge in attempts at smuggling in contraband through the checkpoints last year.

The 80,800 cases that surfaced last year were a record high - 19.5 per cent higher than the year before. The list of items smuggled included weapons, duty-unpaid cigarettes and animal and plant products.

The ICA said smugglers have become more creative, constantly coming up with new ways to conceal their illegal cargo, using, for example, hollowed-out books and vehicle tyres.

On the ICA’s concern that these methods may be used by terrorists to smuggle arms and explosives, SMU’s Tan said the greater vigilance and security post-Sept. 11 has made it harder for immigration offenders and for contraband to be brought in.

He said: “While the authorities try to look out for terrorists or items that could be used in terrorist plots, there’s the incidental effect of picking up the minor transgressions as well. Singapore is deploying technology heavily and enforcing more strictly, so it’s picking up a lot more things.”

Reprinted courtesy of Straits Times Indonesia. To subscribe to Straits Times Indonesia and/or the Jakarta Globe call 021 2553 5055.