'Empty' truck yields 1.13m illegal cigarettes
Tobacco seized from secret compartment of container truck after it crossed border
Customs officers busted an illegal tobacco syndicate on Saturday, seizing about 1.13 million cigarettes from an "empty" container truck after it crossed the border. The tobacco had been hidden in a fake compartment.
Four men, aged 31 to 55, were arrested - three Hongkongers and one from South Asia.
The Customs and Excise Department said it was the first time officers had discovered tobacco being smuggled this way.
Walter Mak Hoi-wan, head of customs' revenue and general investigation bureau, said customs officers followed the truck from the border to a cargo unloading area in Man Kam To at about 2pm on Saturday.
"The truck was supposedly empty … but our officers watched several men walking into the false compartment to move the boxes of cigarettes. It was then that the officers made their move and arrested them," Mak said.
He said there was a false wall at the end of the container, which was actually a door leading to the a compartment measuring 320 sq ft. It concealed 88 boxes of illegal cigarettes with an estimated value of about HK$3 million. The duties would have been worth about HK$2 million.
Customs seized a total of 28 million illegal cigarettes last year, and 15.1 million have so far been confiscated this year.
Mak added that after customs stepped up its efforts against the illegal trade on the streets, some sellers were now taking phone orders. The department set up a task force in May last year to crack down on the syndicates that sell contraband cigarettes.
Former police officer Robin Jolly, of Hong Kong United Against Illicit Tobacco, said earlier that the illegal trade had not been targeted at the source, and that the crackdown could be made easier if customs and police worked together.
In response yesterday, Mak said customs had indeed been focusing on the source of the trade, and that customs and the police had been sharing intelligence on this.
Separately, Deanna Cheung Kin-wah, chairwoman of the Coalition on Tobacco Affairs, said the illegal trade was costing the industry about 20 to 40 per cent of its revenue.