Cigarette-smuggling ring stubbed out as Hong Kong Customs seize contraband tobacco worth HK$12m
Hong Kong Customs believes they have struck a heavy blow against a cross-border tobacco-smuggling syndicate following the seizure of HK$12 million worth of untaxed cigarettes in two operations this month.
Hong Kong Customs believes they have struck a heavy blow against a cross-border tobacco-smuggling syndicate following the seizure of HK$12 million worth of untaxed cigarettes in two operations this month.
Investigations revealed the gang mixed boxes of illicit cigarettes with other products and used goods vehicles to smuggle the contraband from Shenzhen to Hong Kong via various border crossings, according to a senior customs official.
“Upon arrival in Hong Kong, the cigarettes would have been conveyed to tobacco traffickers who sell to buyers through telephone orders,” Wan Hing-chuen, deputy head of Customs’ revenue and general investigation bureau, said today.
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He said intelligence indicated the gang was one of the major cigarette-smuggling syndicates in the city.
This was revealed today after customs officers confiscated 1.9 million cigarettes on board a truck at the Man Kam To border crossing yesterday.
The consignment was found concealed inside 76 sofas when officers intercepted the truck entering the city from Shenzhen via the control point.
Wan said the one-metre-long sofas, which were wrapped with plastic sheets, were hidden behind more than 900 boxes of plastic and electronic goods in the innermost part of a shipping container loaded at the back of the truck.