--- title: Singapore Arrests Man Trying to Smuggle Kittens in His Pants description: Officers noticed a suspicious bulge in the man's pants and could hear the cats meowing canonical: https://time.com/5497762/singapore-smuggle-kittens-pants/ author: Supriya Batra article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-01-09T08:27:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:56:49.298Z og:title: Singapore Arrests Man Trying to Smuggle Kittens in His Pants og:description: Officers heard meowing sounds coming from a suspicious bulge in his pants og:url: https://time.com/5497762/singapore-smuggle-kittens-pants/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d067f88c295756a/698942f2ab6d7764806b4959/gettyimages-103131833.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Animal Sanctuary Needs £200,000 To Avoid Closure og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Singapore Arrests Man Trying to Smuggle Kittens in His Pants twitter:description: Officers heard meowing sounds coming from a suspicious bulge in his pants twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d067f88c295756a/698942f2ab6d7764806b4959/gettyimages-103131833.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Man Trying to Smuggle Kittens Into Singapore Foiled by Officers Who Heard 'Meowing' From a Bulge in His Pants > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=28d95285-ef7d-4037-a173-7e7380fcdbb8&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Supriya Batra](https://time.com/author/supriya-batra/) ## Supriya Batra Jan 9, 2019 8:27 AM UTC  Kittens. Kittens. Christopher Furlong—Getty Images by [Supriya Batra](https://time.com/author/supriya-batra/) ## Supriya Batra Jan 9, 2019 8:27 AM UTC Authorities in the Southeast Asian city-state of Singapore say they have foiled a man’s attempt to smuggle four kittens across a land border from neighboring Malaysia by [hiding them](https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2181239/cat-down-your-trousers-or-are-you-just-pleased-see-me) inside his trousers. Agence France-Presse reports that officers heard “meowing” sounds coming from a suspicious bulge in his pants. The man, who is 45 and Singaporean, could face up to a year in prison and a fine of up to US$7,360. In a [statement](https://www.facebook.com/Immigration.Checkpoints.Authority/posts/818279398521976) shared on Facebook, Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority said all four kittens are alive and in the care of the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority. “Trying to get past fur-midable officers?” the statement read. “Impawsible.” It is not clear why the man was trying to transport them, but he may have intended to sell them as pets. An immigration authority spokeswoman said people commonly attempt to smuggle contraband such as cigarettes under their clothing. “But to stuff four live kittens into one’s trousers,” she said, “this is the first time we’ve seen it.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5497762/singapore-smuggle-kittens-pants/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5497762/singapore-smuggle-kittens-pants/"},"headline":"Man Trying to Smuggle Kittens Into Singapore Foiled by Officers Who Heard 'Meowing' From a Bulge in His Pants","datePublished":"2019-01-09T08:27:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:56:49.298Z","description":"Officers heard meowing sounds coming from a suspicious bulge in his pants","url":"https://time.com/5497762/singapore-smuggle-kittens-pants/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Singapore","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d067f88c295756a/698942f2ab6d7764806b4959/gettyimages-103131833.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Supriya Batra","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/supriya-batra/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d067f88c295756a/698942f2ab6d7764806b4959/gettyimages-103131833.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Animal Sanctuary Needs £200,000 To Avoid Closure","caption":"Animal Sanctuary Needs £200,000 To Avoid Closure","creditText":"Christopher Furlong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5497762/singapore-smuggle-kittens-pants/","name":"Man Trying to Smuggle Kittens Into Singapore Foiled by Officers Who Heard 'Meowing' From a Bulge in His Pants"}}]}] ```