Hong Kong customs seizes HK$10 million of smuggled platinum, its largest haul in 20 years
Officers find eight slabs of metal hidden inside Shenzhen-bound truck’s battery box during stop at checkpoint, arrest 48-year-old driver
Hong Kong customs has claimed its biggest haul of smuggled platinum in two decades, seizing HK$10 million (US$1.3 million) worth of the metal hidden in a battery box at the bottom of a Shenzhen-bound truck.
The Customs and Excise Department said on Thursday that the truck’s driver, a 48-year-old man, was arrested on suspicion of attempting to export unmanifested goods – an offence punishable by up to seven years in jail and a HK$2 million fine.
The outgoing truck, which had been declared as carrying no cargo, was intercepted for inspection at Man Kam To control point last Friday while it was travelling to mainland China.
Inspector Leung Chi-hang of the control point’s cargo and vehicle processing unit said the battery box in the space between the driver’s cabin and the cargo hold was unusually secured with a plastic cover and iron locks, which aroused officers’ suspicions.
“Officers used tools to break the locks and discovered eight slabs of platinum hidden in a narrow space between two batteries,” he said.
Inspector Woo Suet-yi of customs’ syndicate crimes investigation bureau said officers confiscated 41kg (90lbs) of platinum worth HK$10 million from the battery box.
She said it was customs’ largest platinum seizure on record and surpassed the previous 30kg logged in 2013.