JOHOR BARU: A Singapore-registered Honda Stream caught fire at the exit lane of the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) Complex at the Sultan Iskandar Building on Tuesday night.
Johor Baru Selatan district police chief Assistant Commissioner Sulaiman Salleh said this was the first time a car had caught fire at the CIQ while undergoing immigration checks.
The driver, a 24-year-old Singaporean man, was unhurt in the incident.
"The fire, which started from the engine, was put out in three minutes. The entire car and its engine were damaged. Initial investigations revealed no criminal elements," he said.
However, Sulaiman said officers found 15 cartons of cigarettes in the car’s engine compartment. They believe that it could have been an attempt to smuggle contraband cigarettes into the republic.
“The car did not manage to go through Customs checks yet,” he said.
The man was not arrested. It is understood that an offence had yet to be committed as the items had not yet crossed the border.
The Johor Customs Department said the case is now with the police.
Photographs of the incident were uploaded on a Facebook page, which went viral with the caption "Singapore-registered car caught fire at CIQ due to cigarettes".
Commenters on Facebook vented their anger at the driver for his foolishness at storing the cigarettes in the car’s engine compartment.