Checks on cross-border trucks will be stepped up after the value of smuggled gold and silver bars seized by customs officials went up nearly 12 times last year.
Bars worth around HK$51.44 million were seized in 10 cases last year, almost 12 times the HK$4.3 million discovered in four cases in 2010.
Tam Yiu-keung, assistant commissioner for intelligence and investigation, attributed the increase to the difference in the prices of gold and silver between the mainland and Hong Kong over the past two years.
'Exporting expensive metals [from the mainland] has also been more difficult [due to tightened restrictions], so smuggling has worsened,' he said.
Of the 10 cases last year, nine involved the smuggling of silver bars.
Price differences ranged from HK$128 to HK$1,766 per kilogram every month, with the local price higher than on the mainland most of the time.