The meat was seized following an anti-smuggling operation near the construction site of the Hong Kong airport’s third runway. Photo: Handout
Source:
https://scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3083198/hong-kong-customs-seizes-smuggled-meat-worth-hk38 Law and Crime
Hong Kong customs seizes smuggled meat worth HK$3.8 million, arrests two
- Officers on Tuesday night intercepted a barge and a mainland cargo vessel carrying 110 tonnes of frozen meat
- The two men were arrested near the city’s airport, but another man escaped on a speedboat
Some of the smuggled meat picked up by Hong Kong customs on Tuesday night. Photo: Handout
Hong Kong customs officers on Tuesday night seized about 110 tonnes of frozen meat worth HK$3.8 million (US$490,068) and arrested two men in their latest crackdown on cross-border smuggling.
The arrests were made after officers intercepted a barge and a mainland cargo vessel near the Hong Kong International Airport, near the construction site of the airport’s third runway.
However, a suspected maritime smuggler escaped by jumping into the sea from the cargo vessel around 10.30pm on Tuesday, as a high-speed pursuit craft carrying customs officers moved in.
The man was wearing a life jacket when he jumped into water, according to a law enforcement source. Emergency personnel including firefighters and marine police mounted a search but found no trace of him.
“We suspect the man was picked up by one of the speedboats controlled by his accomplices and ferried back to the mainland,” the source said, without elaborating on how many speedboats were present.
“We believe there were other smugglers who jumped onto the other speedboats from the cargo vessel and the barge after noticing law enforcers approaching.”
The two arrested men were a 45-year-old Hong Kong resident, who was arrested on board the barge, and a 51-year-old Chinese national, who was picked up aboard the cargo vessel.
Most of the seized meat was found on the barge, which the source said was used as a floating storage centre, adding that the cargo vessel and speedboats entered Hong Kong waters from the mainland to pick up the illicit cargo.
The site is about two nautical miles from the maritime boundary between the city and the mainland.
The seizure and arrests were the second major anti-smuggling operation by Hong Kong customs in the past two weeks. On April 22, customs officers seized 162 tonnes of meat and arrested 15 local men on two barges in the same area.
The smuggling operations were designed to evade import restrictions and mainland tariffs, the source said.
Hong Kong authorities stepped up their enforcement efforts after in recent months noting a rise in smuggling activities in the city’s western waters, with criminals looking to take illicit meat to the coastal mainland province of Guangdong.
In January, three customs officers died in a collision between their craft and a cargo vessel while on patrol off the airport’s third runway construction site.
In March, two maritime smugglers from the mainland died at the same location after their speedboat smashed into a mooring wire and capsized, throwing them into the sea. They had tried to speed off after spotting a police patrol.
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