Hong Kong customs officers seize HK$17 million worth of contraband sea cucumber, arrest 7
- The haul was seized off Cheung Chau aboard a small vessel believed to be smuggling it out of the city
- Rather than using high-powered speedboats like many local smugglers, the suspects were travelling slowly along the coastline in an apparent effort to avoid radar detection
Hong Kong police and customs officers have seized HK$17 million (US$2.2 million) worth of contraband sea cucumber on a vessel believed to be smuggling it out of the city, arresting seven in the process.
Revealing the joint operation on Thursday, authorities said officers acting on intelligence found the suspected smuggling ring using a crane to load 120 boxes of goods onto a small vessel in the Western District Public Cargo Working Area on Tuesday afternoon.
The vessel then sailed south, with customs intercepting it off Cheung Chau and seizing 3,560kg of sea cucumber on board.
Rather than using high-powered speedboats like many local smuggling operations, Tuesday’s suspects were operating a small vessel, similar to a kaito ferry, and travelling slowly along the coastline in an apparent effort to avoid radar detection and law enforcers, customs said.
“Vessels like this are usually used for transport within the harbour. We suspect the smugglers made use of such a vessel to gradually move smuggled goods towards the water boundary, attempting to smuggle them out of the city,” said Divisional Commander Lui Siu-fai, of customs’ syndicate crimes investigation bureau.
He added that the crewmen aboard the boat showed officers waybills upon interception.
“The information on the waybills was largely fake … [The smugglers] pretended the vessel was transporting within the harbour, but in fact they were trying to cover up smuggling activity,” he said.