Parallel trading syndicates issue smugglers with ‘receipts’ to evade arrest
Traders pose as genuine buyers with papers supplied by syndicate bosses
Syndicates behind rampant cross-border parallel trading have a new tactic to help smugglers evade arrest as the government steps up its crackdown.
Government sources say they now issue their runners or smugglers with official-looking receipts that itemise all goods and prices as "proof" the purchases are above board and made by genuine buyers.
Armed with such receipts, the runners have an easier chance of escaping detection when they ferry the goods from Hong Kong to Shenzhen to be resold at a profit by the syndicates.
"The note is just like a receipt in a purchasing deal and is used to prove they are shoppers instead of so-called parallel-goods traders," a source said.
He said that previously such notes did not include prices. The source admitted "the new tactic makes it difficult to gather evidence against them".
Mainlanders who enter Hong Kong for sightseeing will be arrested for breaching their condition of stay if they engage in parallel trading. Thousands of smugglers from the mainland and Hong Kong are paid to deliver the parallel-import goods into Shenzhen through the Lo Wu checkpoint each day.