Hong Kong customs seizes HK$211 million in smuggled goods found on river trade vessels headed for mainland China, Macau
- Superintendent Jason Lau says criminals could have evaded more than HK$100 million in tariffs if smuggling operations were successful
- Criminals use river trade vessels for smuggling because of its ‘high mobility’ and ‘many loading and unloading points’, he adds
Hong Kong customs officers have confiscated HK$211 million (US$27 million) worth of contraband products headed for mainland China after intercepting two commercial boats, known as river trade vessels, in the city’s northwestern waters on separate occasions.
Superintendent Jason Lau Yuk-lung of the customs’ syndicate crimes investigation bureau said on Friday that criminals could have evaded more than HK$100 million in tariffs if the goods had been successfully smuggled across the border.
Both cases happened last week, with one incident involving a haul of HK$200 million worth of smuggled goods after officers intercepted a Guangzhou-bound vessel off Black Point on Saturday, according to the Customs and Excise Department.
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The contraband products were found in one of the shipping containers on board the mainland-registered river trade vessel. The container was declared as carrying charging cables, computer cases and cleaning products.
Lau said the items declared were used as a cover to avoid detection and accounted for merely a small portion of the entire cargo.
The smuggled items included 28,000 central processing units, 93,000 random-access memory sticks, 6,200 computer hard disks, 4,600 tablets, more than 150,000 other electronic products and accessories as well as 5,700 bottles of health supplement products.
“It is the biggest maritime smuggling case involving a river trade vessel over the past two years,” Investigator Ho Ting-chun of the bureau said.
He said the seized items were subject to mainland tariffs of between 30 and 100 per cent.
Investigations revealed an overseas middleman controlled a local shell company to arrange the cross-border shipment, he added.
In the second case, customs officers intercepted a river trade vessel off Tuen Mun destined for Macau last Thursday.
Customs officers discovered HK$11 million worth of contraband goods in one of the containers on board the vessel, including cigarettes, cigars and pharmaceutical products to treat illnesses such as cancer.
Lau believed that the consignment would have been smuggled into the mainland after reaching Macau.
Investigations were ongoing and no arrests had been made in either case, according to the department.
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Superintendent Lau said officers were investigating whether the two cases were linked, as well as the origins of the seized goods and the consignors of the products.
“Criminals use river trade vessels for smuggling due to the high mobility of these boats as well as the presence of many loading and unloading points for these vessels,” he said.
Lau added customs would spare no effort to combat such illegal activities, even as smuggling tactics evolved.
In Hong Kong, importing or exporting unmanifested cargo is punishable by up to seven years in jail and a HK$2 million fine.
