Hong Kong customs makes largest-ever smuggling bust, with HK$210 million haul of shark fins, luxury goods including Hermes, Gucci and Louis Vuitton handbags
- Authorities say the nearly 10 tonnes of fins were taken from some 15,000 sharks
- An investigation suggests the shark fins, endangered plants and other luxury items had been sourced from all over the world and were destined for mainland China
Nearly 10 tonnes of shark fins were seized as part of a record HK$210 million (US$27 million) haul of luxury goods, including handbags from Hermes, Louis Vuitton and Gucci, and endangered wildlife products destined for mainland China, customs officials said on Thursday.
The 9.7 tonnes of fins, valued at HK$110 million on their own, were removed from some 15,000 animals, including endangered thresher sharks. The haul was the biggest-ever seizure of shark fins by value, according to Senior Superintendent Mark Woo Wai-kwan, of customs’ syndicate crimes investigation bureau.
Customs officers made their largest shark fin seizure in terms of quantity in May last year, finding 26 tonnes taken from 38,500 endangered sharks in two shipping containers from Ecuador, though that haul was worth only a fraction of the price – HK$8.6 million.
Woo said the latest bust, which took place on September 24, comprised higher-value fins worth an average of HK$11,000 per kilogram.
Aside from that seizure, customs officers had already confiscated 362 tonnes of endangered flora and fauna – including red sandalwood, ginseng and totoaba fish – in 207 cases over the first nine months of the year, up nearly 60 per cent from 230 tonnes in 2020’s 221 cases.
