Hong Kong customs arrests 3, seizes HK$77 million worth of black-market cigarettes

Hong Kong customs officers arrested three men and confiscated HK$77 million (US$9.8 million) worth of black-market cigarettes in a series of raids in the early hours of Sunday, netting the biggest haul of illegal tobacco products hidden in storage facilities in a single operation in two decades.

The 28 million illicit cigarettes were uncovered after officers placed some members of the syndicate under surveillance for about a month. A law enforcement source said the investigation suggested the gang had been in operation for about the same length of time and it used three industrial units in Chai Wan and Ap Lei Chau to store and repackage the cigarettes.

“The three storage facilities were used in turns,” he said. “We believed the tactic minimised the risk and reduced financial losses in case one of them was discovered by law enforcers.”

The gangsters also worked cautiously in an attempt to evade detection, the insider explained.

“They usually operated around midnight, making it more difficult for us to tailgate them and carry out surveillance, especially in the two industrial areas which turned quiet at night,” he said.

After the month-long surveillance, officers from the revenue crimes investigation bureau swooped into action at around midnight as three suspected members of the syndicate made a delivery to the industrial unit on San Yip Street in Chai Wan.

Inside the unit, officers found 7.7 million illicit cigarettes and three suspected gang members, one of whom was a mainland Chinese national holding a two-way permit, a travel document used to enter Hong Kong.

A subsequent investigation led officers to the two other industrial units in Chai Wan and Ap Lei Chau.