Twenty-six mainland men bound for the United States were found in a 12-metre container at Kwai Chung Container Terminal late last night.
The container had arrived earlier in the day from Fujian province and was to have been loaded on to a vessel which was due to leave for Long Beach, California, today.
The men are all under the age of 25. They were all conscious when they were found by Customs officials, and were ordered out of the container when police reinforcements arrived. It is believed that Customs officers had earlier received intelligence about a container holding illegal immigrants.
Early this morning the arrested men were taken to Kwai Chung police station where they were being detained for further questioning.
They told police that they were residents of Fujian and had travelled to Guangzhou where they boarded the container and were taken to Hong Kong by ship.
The Customs officers had spotted the hardtop container stacked in the middle of a number of other containers at the terminal.