Crackdown by Hong Kong customs nets illegal cigarettes worth HK$57 million
Contraband cigarettes worth more than HK$57 million have been confiscated by Hong Kong Customs in 12 cases of tobacco smuggling from the mainland so far this year, a customs official said on Wednesday.
Details were revealed by assistant superintendent Lau Yuk-lung ,who heads the Customs division investigating illicit cigarettes, after customs officers made this year’s largest seizure of contraband in the city on Tuesday.
The HK$7.3 million haul was discovered when officers intercepted a Hong Kong-bound container truck at Man Kam To Immigration Control Point. The import document claimed it carried more than 800 cartons of assorted goods such as metalware and clothes.
Lear More
Hong Kong police seize furs, sandalwood and electronic goods worth HK$7m in anti-smuggling raid.
Almost HK$7 million worth of smuggled goods destined for the mainland were confiscated by Hong Kong police during an anti-smuggling operation in Sai Kung East Country Park on Monday night. But six smugglers managed to flee on a mainland Chinese speedboat with a coxswain on board.
At about 10.30pm on Monday, six men were found loading boxes from a car on to a speedboat berthed at Wong Shek pier on Pak Tam Road in Sai Kung East Country Park, according to police.
As officers moved in, the six men abandoned the car and boxes of goods and jumped on to the speedboat which sped towards the mainland.
Officers seized 300kg of fur, 48kg of suspected sandalwood, 45kg of bird’s nest, about 2,000 mobile phones and five boxes of electronic components.
Lear MoreFive suspects on the loose after police foil HK$1.4 million smuggling bid during typhoon warning
While most Hongkongers took shelter indoors as Tropical Storm Merbok raged, a group of smugglers braved the bad weather in a bid to smuggle electronic products into the mainland by sea on Monday night.
Their attempt was foiled by marine police, who confiscated more than HK$1.4 million worth of electronic products including smartphones and tablets, and impounded a car worth about HK$50,000 at the Sha Tau Kok pier. Five suspected smugglers managed to escape.
“We believe the gang took advantage of the typhoon warning to smuggle the goods because they thought no law enforcers were on patrol on both sides of the sea boundary during the No 8 typhoon signal,” a police source said.
Lear More