900kg of live lobsters among HK$10 million haul seized by Hong Kong customs in high-speed sea chase
- Officers find 77 boxes of contraband containing live lobsters and 930kg of dried sea cucumber on speedboat bound for mainland China
- Two mainland men arrested on suspicion of attempting to export unmanifested cargo, after high-speed sea pursuit
Hong Kong customs has arrested two suspected mainland Chinese smugglers and seized HK$10 million (US$1.28 million) worth of contraband, including nearly 900kg of live lobsters, after a high-speed sea pursuit.
The haul marked the first seizure of lobsters since new customs chief Louise Ho Pui-shan last month made combating smuggling of the live seafood a vital national security issue.
On Monday night at around 9pm, a 15-metre-long speedboat equipped with two outboard engines was detected leaving Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter under the cover of darkness, said Assistant Superintendent Lui Siu-fai, of customs’ syndicate crimes investigation bureau. Two pursuit crafts were deployed to intercept it.
Upon seeing the pursuit crafts, the speedboat with two men on board accelerated, heading towards the sea boundary with the mainland.
It tried to lead the pursuit crafts into a shallow bay at Lamma Island in a bid to run them aground during the high-speed sea chase. The speedboat was eventually intercepted after about 10 minutes.