The largest anti-smuggling raid in Hong Kong's history nabbed 44 suspects in Sheung Shui, say customs officers who described how dozens of mainland smugglers made several cross-border trips each day with goods in their hand luggage.
About 80 officers from the police, immigration and labour departments mounted the joint operation on Wednesday, said assistant Sheung Shui divisional commander Steve Lok Chun-kei.
The officers began by watching as dozens of people from the mainland collected goods, including mobile phones and red wine, in Choi Yuen Road and Choi Fat Street near Sheung Shui MTR station, Lok said.
The officers rounded up one Hong Kong man and 43 from the mainland, confiscating goods worth HK$2.3 million in the operation from 11am to 2pm, he said. The goods included 381 bottles of wine.
'It is the largest number of suspected smugglers arrested in a single operation,' Lok said.
The Hongkonger was arrested on suspicion of employing illegal workers, while the 23 men and 20 women from the mainland were arrested for breaching their conditions of stay in Hong Kong.
Police said they were investigating whether the suspects were working for syndicates.