Hong Kong Customs arrested a 33-year-old local man in Ngau Chi Wan on Tuesday afternoon during an operation targeting phone-order illicit cigarette sales, seizing about 30,000 suspected duty-not-paid cigarettes.
Customs' illicit cigarette phone-order task force began its operation earlier this month after officers intercepted a man distributing illicit cigarette flyers in a Wong Tai Sin public housing estate. The flyers contained cigarette prices and order phone numbers.
Officers posed as buyers and contacted the seller using the number on the flyer, arranging a transaction at a housing estate in East Kowloon. On Tuesday afternoon, Customs arrested the man near a housing estate in Ngau Chi Wan and found about 30,000 suspected duty-not-paid cigarettes in his private car.
The man, who claimed to be unemployed, is suspected of acting as a delivery courier for illicit cigarettes. The cigarettes have an estimated market value of about HK$135,000 and a duty value of about HK$100,000. The private car was also detained.
Customs said the investigation into the source of the cigarettes is ongoing and further arrests are not ruled out. Under the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance, dealing with, possessing, selling or buying illicit cigarettes carries a maximum penalty of HK$2 million and seven years' imprisonment.
