Customs officers have made what they describe as the biggest seizure in Hong Kong's history.After an intelligence-led operation, investigators swooped to net HK$200 million in contraband and arrested three Hong Kong residents. Their next target is the "Mr Big" behind the syndicate.
The seizure and arrests late last week are part of an ongoing crackdown on smugglers who try to take advantage of the differing tax and importation regimes between Hong Kong and the mainland.
"This could be the biggest seizure in history," said head of ports and marine command Albert Chan Chi-hung.
In the first strike of a two-week operation code- named "Monsoon," officers intercepted a river trade vessel opposite Tap Shek Kok, Tuen Mun, at 8pm on Thursday. It was heading for Zhaoqing, Guangdong.
After X-rays showed suspicious contents in the ship's containers, labeled "plastic waste," officers opened them to find "huge amounts" of smuggled goods.
Intelligence reports alerted the authorities to a syndicate that used plastic waste to camouflage high- value goods.
Officers found HK$90 million of American ginseng, HK$40 million of LCD screens and HK$30 million of integrated circuits in 32 containers. Other confiscated items included furs, large-scale electronic game machines and industrial chemicals.
The smugglers would have avoided about HK$50 million in taxes.
The Customs and Excise Department also implemented a "large-scale raiding operation" on Thursday night, swooping on six c
ompanies in Yuen Long, Tuen Mun, Kwun Tong and Sheung Wan to arrest the three people.The case marks the fourth seizure in the past 10 days. On Thursday officers also arrested five men when a search of their boat revealed HK$4.5 million in illegal cell phones, silver bars and hard drives.
Earlier, officers stopped a truck carrying illegal silver slabs and on October 10 they broke up a group of men loading silver into speedboats to be taken to the mainland.
Chan noted that during slowdowns in 1997 and 2003 there was no visible increase in smuggling.
