SINGAPORE, Feb. 3 -- What looked like innocent bits of furniture in the back of a Malaysia-registered van turned out to be anything but, after officers at Singapore's Immigration and Checkpoints Authority smashed them apart during an enhanced check at Woodlands Checkpoint on January 22 - only to uncover a stash of duty-unpaid cigarettes stuffed inside.

A video on ICA's social media shows officers literally hammering chunks off the so-called furniture. As the panels cracked, cartons of illicit cigarettes tumbled out - confirming that the wooden shells were nothing more than makeshift decoys.

ICA said the van had been "profiled and directed for enhanced checks", where officers uncovered more than 150 cartons and 60 loose packets of duty-u...