Customs seize biggest haul of donkey skin

Customs said today they detected two sea-bound smuggling cases in a row, which include the biggest donkey skin seizure in Hong Kong, at the Kwai Chung Customhouse Cargo Examination Compound yesterday through risk assessment.

About 17 tons of smuggled donkey skins, 520 kilograms of smuggled sea cucumbers, 2kg of smuggled fish maws and one ton of scheduled dried shark fins, worth about HK$2 million in total, were seized.

In the first case, officers selected and inspected a container declared to be carrying table salt that arrived from Egypt. The batch of smuggled donkey skins, sea cucumbers and fish maws was found inside the container.

Customs said this is the second donkey skin smuggling case detected within a week. On April 9, officers seized about 16 tons of smuggled donkey skins from a container, which also arrived from Egypt and was declared to be carrying table salt.

"Donkey skin has a wide variety of uses. After processing, it could be manufactured as donkey-hide gelatin, also known as 'Ejiao'," Customs said.

In the second case, officers selected a container arriving in from Sri Lanka for inspection and found the batch of scheduled dried shark fins mix-loaded with non-scheduled dried shark fins inside the container.

The case was handed over to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department for follow-up investigation.