Hong Kong customs seize HK$52 million of smuggled cigarettes in joint operation
The haul was in containers declared to be furniture and travelling a circuitous route from the European Union to Greece
Untaxed European Union-made cigarettes worth HK$52 million have been confiscated in Hong Kong during a joint operation between British and Hong Kong customs officials while en route to Greece, a senior official said this afternoon.
The consignment was the city’s largest seizure of dutiable cigarettes over the past few years, according to Superintendent Cecilia Yeung Kai-fei of the Customs and Excise Department’s revenue and general investigation bureau.
“An investigation indicated that the cigarettes were exported from the European Union but were being smuggled back into the European Union to escape taxes,” she said.
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“Such a circuitous route is common, but it’s rare that Hong Kong is used as a stopover.”
Yeung said an initial investigation showed the cigarettes were destined for Greece. “It involves a duty potential of 2.87 million Euro dollars if the cigarettes were smuggled into Greece,” she said.
In the afternoon, the director of a Hong Kong shipping company was helping field inquiries from customs officers. So far, no one has been arrested locally.
Hong Kong customs officials launched an investigation after receiving a tip-off from their British counterparts earlier this month.
Officers carried out a risk assessment, identified two suspicious shipping containers that arrived from the United Arab Emirates on Saturday and Tuesday, and then selected them for inspection.