THREE suspected smugglers from the mainland were pulled from the sea yesterday when their high-powered speedboat caught fire while being chased by one of the newly-delivered marine police launches south of Po Toi Island.
The speedboat later capsized, dropping a new left-hand drive Mercedes-Benz into the sea.
This was one of three incidents yesterday as part of a new anti-smuggling campaign Operation Disavow.
The three-man crew rescued yesterday suffered only minor injuries.
Their five-engined vessel was with a second speedboat, also with a Benz on board, spotted coming out from Stanley Peninsula at about 4.30 pm.
The police launch chased one for 20 minutes along Tathong Channel until it suddenly caught fire in the area of the cockpit, probably from overheated cables.