Customs crackdown! The value of the goods was 140 million, several containers were seized, and many people were arrested...

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Hong Kong Customs continues to implement the above midstream and downstream strategies, including import and export, re-export, market storage, distribution and street selling, to comprehensively combat all types of illicit cigarette activities. On July 24, it detected another illicit cigarette smuggling operation by sea and seized 30.4 million illicit cigarettes. , with a market value of HK0 million and a taxable value of HK0 million, and seven Myanmar crew members were arrested. Because the captain failed to provide any cargo manifest documents, he will be charged with "entering unlisted manifests" and will appear in the Eastern District Magistrates' Court on the morning of July 26.

When explaining the operation, Hong Kong Customs pointed out that in the early morning of the 24th, a suspicious cargo ship took advantage of the extremely low visibility of the sea at night to enter Hong Kong from the sea opposite Lamma Island towards Kau Yi Chau. Since the customs had already identified it as being related to a smuggling group, they sent two high-speed interceptor boats to intercept and investigate. The cargo ship was suspected of being suspicious and immediately turned 180 degrees to escape from Hong Kong. It was eventually stopped by customs officers and forcibly boarded the ship for investigation. Inside the container The batch of illicit cigarettes was seized.

Senior Inspector Lam Ming Hong of the Maritime Assault and Search Team of the Port and Maritime Division said that on the evening of July 23, officers noticed the target ship and found that it had not completed the arrival formalities, so they deployed operations to intercept the ship. In the early morning of the 24th, when the ship entered Hong Kong waters in the water boundary south of Hong Kong, the personnel believed that the time was right and dispatched two high-speed interceptor boats to intercept the ship. The ship suddenly changed its course 180 degrees and escaped towards the water boundary south of Hong Kong. Want to avoid customs inspection.

Customs officers accelerated the pursuit and discovered the target ship when it sailed to the waters off Lamma Island. They then approached the ship and asked the ship to stop sailing and allow customs officers to board the ship for search. However, the other party failed to stop as instructed, and the officers immediately adopted the action strategy of forcibly boarding the ship, taking control of the target ship and conducting a search. During this period, the customs officers asked the captain for the cargo manifest, but the captain hesitated and failed to provide relevant documents or provide details of the container. This aroused the customs officers' suspicion, so they opened the container for detailed inspection and found a large number of suspicious items. Duty-unpaid cigarettes led to the arrest of a total of seven Myanmar crew members, ranging in age from 24 to 55, including the 48-year-old captain.

Lin Weijie, senior investigation director of the Tax Investigation Team 1 of the Customs Tax Crime Investigation Bureau, said that the Tax Crime Investigation Bureau took over the investigation and found only three 40-foot containers on the ship, containing a total of 30.4 million illicit cigarettes with a market value of HK0 million, which were taxable. Valued at 100 million yuan, there is no other cargo on board. After investigation, it was found that one of the containers contained white-brand cigarettes, accounting for 30% of the total seized quantity, while the other two containers contained traditional illicit cigarettes. Since the captain failed to provide any cargo manifest documents, he will be charged with "importing unmanifested cargo". The case was brought up in the Eastern District Magistrates' Court on the morning of the 26th.

Smuggling is a serious crime. According to the Import and Export Ordinance, any person who imports or exports unmanifested goods may be fined up to million and imprisoned for seven years upon conviction. According to the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance, any person who handles, possesses, sells or purchases illicit cigarettes commits an offense and is liable upon conviction to a maximum fine of million and imprisonment for two years.

Lin Weijie pointed out that through a series of Hong Kong Customs operations against white brand cigarettes, the Customs has noticed that the sales of white brand cigarettes on the market have begun to be controlled. However, officers do not rule out the possibility that criminals will use white brand cigarettes printed with statutory health warnings under Hong Kong laws. Disguise themselves as duty-paid cigarettes and recruit retailers, such as newsstands and convenience stores, with considerable profits to help them distribute unduty-paid cigarettes on the market.

Customs urges people not to buy cigarettes from unknown sources. All cigarettes sold at prices much lower than the normal cigarette tax are extremely suspicious of being duty-unpaid cigarettes. Customs calls on all retailers not to sell cigarettes of unknown origin, otherwise they may face criminal liability. Whenever Customs has reasonable suspicion that a merchant is selling duty-unpaid cigarettes, it will take decisive enforcement actions.

This case demonstrates the Customs' law enforcement achievements in cracking down at the source. In addition to strengthening the crackdown at the source, the Customs has also launched code-named "Thunder" in various districts in Hong Kong to target retail illicit cigarettes in the city. A total of 43 cases were detected and 44 were arrested. people, including 39 men and 5 women, aged between 27 and 78 years old, and the operation is still ongoing.