Hong Kong customs uncovers HK$50 million worth of goods bound for mainland China in largest marine seizure this year
- Smugglers caught in the act loading goods onto vessel at construction site of third runway for airport. They evaded capture by speeding off into mainland waters
- Authorities say such smuggling tactics on the rise with normal cross-border flow of goods affected amid pandemic
Hong Kong customs officials have seized HK$50 million (US$6.4 million) worth of gems, luxury items and marine products bound for mainland China in the biggest haul of its kind so far this year, with the raid carried out at the construction site of the airport’s third runway.
Raw amber stones, dried fish maw and shark’s fin were confiscated in Friday’s operation, while the smugglers escaped in a speedboat bound for mainland waters.
Officers on patrol around the Chek Lap Kok site had spotted several suspicious individuals moving boxes from a fishing vessel to a speedboat at around midnight.
As law enforcers swooped in, the three suspects jumped onto the speedboat and fled.
“Only authorised vessels are allowed to enter the waters off the construction site. We believe the smugglers sought to blend in with workboats in an attempt to hide their illicit activities,” Senior Superintendent Mark Woo Wai-kwan, head of the Customs and Excise Department’s syndicate crimes investigation bureau, told a press conference on Saturday.
About 140kg of raw amber stones were confiscated during the operation, amounting to a third of the total amount confiscated in the past two decades, Woo said, adding there was rising demand for such items on the mainland.