Hong Kong authorities seize top-shelf booze, clothing as pandemic-fuelled smuggling continues to surge

In a first for the year, Hong Kong law enforcement officials seized a cache of 30-year-old scotch and Japanese sake in a waterfront raid on Monday, as smugglers continue to cash in on cross-border shoppers’ thirst for luxury goods amid pandemic-related border closures.

According to the Customs and Excise Department, the total value of items seized in 45 cross-border maritime smuggling cases this year – some HK$280 million (US$36.1 million) so far – is already 73 per cent higher than the value of goods seized for the whole of last year.

Assistant Superintendent Danny Cheung Kwok-yin, head of customs’ marine investigation division, disclosed the figures after police and customs officers seized HK$18.4 million worth of goods in their latest anti-smuggling operation on Lantau Island’s Sham Shui Kok Drive on Monday night.

He said the operation was the first time in 2020 that enforcement officers seized top-shelf liquor – in this case, more than 200 bottles of scotch, Japanese whisky and Japanese sake – in a cross-border smuggling operation. Among the HK$2.1 million haul of booze were dozens of bottles of Macallan 30 Years Old, which retail for more than HK$30,000 each in Hong Kong.

Cheung said the whisky cost as much as HK$40,000 to HK$50,000 on the mainland, where it is subject to tariffs of up to 180 per cent of its wholesale price.

The contraband seized on Monday also included HK$1.7 million worth of dried fish maw, HK$2.7 million worth of bird nests, and HK$2.7 million worth of cosmetics and skincare goods, as well as HK$36,500 worth of cigars and HK$175,000 worth of dried shark fins. Also seized were 866 articles of clothing, shoes and handbags, all from luxury brands and valued at HK$2.87 million in total. All of the pieces were unique and “brand new”, Cheung noted.