HONG KONG investigators are likely to go to Tokyo to gather evidence against an alleged smuggling syndicate ambushed while trying to collect luxury cars stolen from Japan.
Police and customs officers arrested four men after staking out a terminal in the territory where 15 containers of multi-million dollar stolen vehicles had landed.
At the same time, a 48-year-old Hong Kong man, Wong Lee-chung, was arrested in Tokyo for allegedly stealing a Mercedes-Benz as part of a ring police suspect could spread throughout Southeast Asia.
More than 30 Mercedes' have been stolen in Tokyo since late last year. Victims included actor Ken Takakura, 65, and pop singer Joji Yamamoto, 46.
Customs and police officers in Hong Kong have seized more than 70 luxury cars, including a $3 million Ferrari, in recent weeks.
The cars were consigned to the territory but were believed to be heading for China and Southeast Asian ports. Detective Superintendent David Ip Wai-keung, of the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau, said Hong Kong authorities were working with their Japanese counterparts to speed up the return of the vehicles and collect evidence against those arrested.
