Customs nab record gold haul disguised as machine parts bound for Japan, one arrested

Hong Kong Customs arrested a man for attempting to smuggle 146 kilograms of gold - the largest haul ever seized in the city. The haul - worth some HK$84 million - was disguised as machine parts of two air compressors bound for Japan.

Customs said they selected the consignment for inspection at the airport’s cargo terminal on March 27, with the shipment weighing 700kg.

After scraping off the silver coating on the machines’ parts, the gold was found to be shaped as two motor rotors, a gear, and three screw shafts inside the two air compressors.

Customs said they arrested the director of a local company, who was the consignor in the document. The man, 31, was detained on suspicion of attempting to export unmanifested cargo – an offence punishable by up to seven years in jail and a HK$2 million fine.

Following Japan’s consumption tax hike to 10 percent from 8 percent in 2019, the country has seen a rise in the number of gold-smuggling cases aimed at evading the tax, which is applied to precious metal imports.

Customs said that if the haul had been successfully smuggled into Japan, the lawbreakers could have evaded a tax of around HK$8.4 million.