Hong Kong customs makes first bust of illicit cigarette factory, seizing HK$120 million in items
- Syndicate allegedly operating factory in Lau Fau Shan, complete with HK$2.5 million worth of machinery to roll and package cigarettes
Hong Kong customs officers have made their first bust of an illicit cigarette factory, seizing HK$120 million (US$15.4 million) worth of untaxed goods, processed tobacco and machinery.
Yeung Yuk-man, head of the customs’ revenue crimes investigation bureau, said on Saturday that officers earlier in the week had shut down a large-scale, tight-knit syndicate that was operating a factory in Lau Fau Shan and a distribution centre in Man Kam To.
“To maintain a steady supply of illicit cigarettes, besides using [different] smuggling methods, some syndicates have also resorted to assembling large-scale production lines for illicit cigarettes at a high cost, hoping to supply such cigarettes by a dual-supply model,” Yeung said.
He added that criminal syndicates increasingly had resorted to piecemeal smuggling to counter crackdowns on large shipments.
Officers from the Customs and Excise Department found 20.5 million sticks of untaxed cigarettes and 3.5 tonnes of tobacco at the two locations on Wednesday. The tax takings from the cigarettes would have been about HK$82 million.
The value of the items seized reached HK$120 million, including HK$2.5 million in machinery.