Hong Kong customs seized contraband cigarettes worth more than HK$560 million this year, up 270 per cent from 2019

More than 204 million illegal cigarettes have been seized this year, compared to about 55 million cigarettes, valued at HK$151 million, in the whole of 2019

But cases have dropped by 83 per cent from 17,368 in 2019 to 3,012 so far in 2020, due to the closure of major border checkpoints amid Covid-19

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Hong Kong authorities have confiscated more than HK$560 million worth of contraband cigarettes this year, up 270 per cent from the HK$151 million seizures in 2019. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 4:22pm, 18 Dec 2020Updated: 9:42pm, 18 Dec 2020

Hong Kong customs has confiscated more than HK$560 million (US$72 million) worth of contraband cigarettes this year, up 270 per cent from the HK$151 million in seizures made in 2019.

But the number of cases has dropped by nearly 83 per cent, from 17,368 in the whole of last year to 3,012 so far this year.

Senior Superintendent Lee Kam-wing, head of customs’ revenue crimes investigation bureau, attributed the drastic drop in the number of the cases to the closure of major border checkpoints due to Covid-19.

“Due to the closure, the sea route is being targeted to smuggle illicit cigarettes into the city instead of using cross-border vehicles and human couriers,” he said.

The seizures rose sharply because shipping containers were usually used in the maritime smuggling of illegal tobacco products and carried larger volumes of the contraband, Lee said. One container can carry up to 10 million cigarettes.

This year, customs officers detected four major maritime smuggling cases, each involving the seizure of more than 10 million illegal cigarettes. There was only one such case in 2019.