Hong Kong customs announced on Friday that they seized the
largest haul of cross-boundary smuggled cigarettes this year on
Nov. 22.
A spokesman for Customs and Excise Department stressed that the
department would continue its stringent enforcement against
smuggling activities.
The customs said that the officers seized from a Chinese
mainland river trade vessel 21.5 million sticks of illicit
cigarettes, worth 32 million HK dollars (over US$4.1 million) and
with duty potential of 17 million HK dollars (nearly US$2.2
million).
Customs officers from the Anti-Illicit-Cigarette Investigation
Division and Container Terminals Division found the cigarettes from
two containers declared to be carrying asbestos sheets and which
were bound for Malaysia.
The vessel came from Huangpu Port, Guangzhou, on the Chinese
mainland.
Initial investigations showed that a syndicate had tried to
smuggle illicit cigarettes to Malaysia via Hong Kong and profit
from selling the haul in Southeast Asia.
(Xinhua News Agency November 24, 2007)