Hong Kong police seize souped-up speedboats, outboard engines worth HK$25 million in latest raid on seaborne smugglers
- Ten speedboats and another 57 engines discovered in 100,000 sq ft Tuen Mun warehouse, marking biggest such bust in city history
- Seizures the latest in an ongoing series of raids following the death of a marine police officer killed when her boat was rammed during a pursuit at sea
Hong Kong police have seized modified speedboats and outboard engines worth HK$25 million (US$3.2 million) believed to be used by smugglers and for illegally ferrying passengers across the border.
Johnson Chong Shing-yat, an assistant district commander in Tuen Mun, the seaside district where the raid took place, on Sunday called it the largest such bust in the city’s history.
Police found 10 speedboats in total – with seven already modified and three in the process – in a warehouse hidden behind containers and other tall structures in Lung Kwu Tan, an area on the western tip of the New Territories notorious for smuggling.
They also found 57 outboard engines in Thursday’s operation, which involved a raid on a 100,000 sq ft warehouse.
“Following enforcement actions by police and other government departments, criminals have been hiding these boats in empty lots in rural areas,” Chong said.
“But as we’ve been able to find their hiding spots, some groups have begun using indoor areas to conceal the speedboats.”
The largest boat found in the warehouse was 15 metres long, eight metres wide and had a depth of 2.5 metres. It had already been fitted with six additional outboard engines, making it capable of hitting 60 knots.
Police also found identification documents belonging to a Chinese national along with boat blueprints.
Hong Kong has seen a surge in maritime smuggling during the coronavirus pandemic, as multiple land border checkpoints have been closed for the better part of two years.
Last month, customs officers seized HK$1.2 billion (US$154.3 million) worth of contraband products, the biggest haul in the department’s 112-year history, intercepting the goods in 24 shipping containers on a vessel bound for mainland China.
The haul included dried seafood, products made from endangered species and designer handbags.
In the first 10 months of this year alone, customs has seized HK$2.07 billion worth of such goods in 81 cases.
In September, police rounded up 17 suspected triad members after chief inspector Lam Yuen-yee was killed by alleged maritime smugglers who used their boat to ram her vessel during a pursuit. Three other officers were injured in that incident.
