Customs detects and seizes HK$211 million of goods from river trade vessels

Customs announced on Friday that they had detected two suspected smuggling cases involving river trade vessels last Thursday and Saturday, seizing goods with a total estimated market value of about HK$211 million. 

Through intelligence analysis and risk assessment, Customs suspected that criminals were using river trade vessels to smuggle goods to the mainland and thus formulated strategies to combat related activities.

During the operation, two river trade vessels departing from Hong Kong and bound for Macao and Huangpu in Guangzhou respectively, were selected for inspection on February 29 (Thurs) and March 2 (Sat).

Upon examination, customs found large batches of suspected smuggled goods aboard the two vessels, including over 130,000 hard disks, about 200,000 electronic product accessories, about 160,000 cigarettes, about 13,000 bottles of health products, and about 3,000 boxes of pharmaceutical products.

An investigation is ongoing.

The customs spokesman said that the smuggling vessels generally carry out smuggling activities from dusk to late at night, using low visibility as cover.

Coupled with the recent heavy fog, smuggling activities have become more frequent, and customs stress that they will strengthen risk management and intelligence analysis to combat the smuggling activities.