Exclusive | China-Australia relations: how smuggled lobsters take ‘grey channels’ to Chinese plates via Hong Kong
- Month-long investigation by the Post reveals how the once wiped-out smuggling of Australian rock lobsters has roared back following an unofficial Chinese ban
- Authorities seizing boatloads of lobsters on both Hong Kong and mainland sides of the border. While some smugglers are caught, ‘they are always the minority’
As the summer heat began to bear down on Hong Kong in the early hours of May 21, four men loaded ice-cold styrofoam boxes onto two speedboats off a pier in the small fishing village of Lau Fau Shan in the city’s northwest.
Their suspected destination was mainland China, just a few kilometres across Deep Bay, in Guangdong province, according to Hong Kong customs.
One of the speedboats never made it out of Hong Kong waters. The other sped off carrying all four men as Hong Kong customs and marine police arrived on the scene and gave chase in a dramatic raid.
A month-long investigation by the South China Morning Post has revealed the increasing pervasiveness of “grey channels” being used to smuggle Australian lobsters from Hong Kong to mainland China, according to multiple trade sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“Most of the smuggled lobsters are western rock lobsters from Australia,” a Hong Kong seafood trader said. “Mainland consumers are so used to its taste that the Chinese market demand is still huge, even though direct imports have been banned.”