‘Operation Melter’ credited with seizing HK$35 million in gold bars during smuggling crackdown on Hong Kong-mainland border
- The four-week customs crackdown saw 71 bars seized from the cabs of trucks as well as the tailor-made waistbands and pockets of drivers
- Officials are now looking into whether the smuggling was driven by the need to launder money earned in mainland criminal operations
Hong Kong customs officials seized HK$35 million (US$4.5 million) worth of gold bars during the course of “Operation Melter”, a recently wrapped, four-week smuggling crackdown that has raised concerns about possible money-laundering by criminal organisations in mainland China.
The 71 gold bars, which weighed 1kg each, were discovered in six separate seizures involving trucks arriving at the Lok Ma Chau and Man Kam To border checkpoints between September 3 and 27.
In three of the cases, 32 bars of gold were found hidden in the cabs of the trucks, while another 30 were seized from tailor-made waistbands and specially designed pockets of jeans worn by two drivers.
“The design of the two waistbands is the same. We believe the two drivers collected the cargo from the same syndicate to bring it into the city,” divisional commander Wong Ching-fu of custom’s land boundary command (Lok Ma Chau) said on Friday. The waistbands were sewn with tailor-made pockets that could store one gold bar each.
Wong said the two drivers were selected for body searches after frontline officers noticed them acting nervous and walking abnormally. One was found to be carrying 20 gold bars.