SINGAPORE - An attempt to smuggle e-vaporiser refill pods, falsely declared as lipsticks, has been foiled by Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers.

They had noticed anomalies in the scanned x-ray images of parcel packages declared as "Matte Lipstick New Viral ydby", ICA said in a Facebook post on Tuesday (June 28).

The 3,600 e-vaporiser refill pods seized at Changi Airfreight Centre will be referred to the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) for further investigations, ICA added.

In the Facebook post, it also flagged the method of concealment as concerning, and said people could smuggle security-sensitive items into Singapore disguised as something else.

In a recent update, HSA said that the number of e-vaporiser cases it handled had gone up significantly from 1,565 in 2017 to 7,593 last year.

A total of 1,212 people were caught for using or possessing e-vaporisers up until March this year.

The use and sale of these products were banned in Singapore on Feb 1, 2018.

Those caught purchasing, using or having them in their possession are liable to a fine of up to $2,000.