Hong Kong customs arrests truck driver, seizes HK$74 million worth of illegal cigarettes in 2 operations

Hong Kong customs officers have arrested a truck driver and confiscated HK$74 million worth of illegal cigarettes in two separate operations last week, pushing the total value of contraband tobacco products seized this year to more than HK$300 million (US$38.2 million).

The seizures were made as part of the fight against black-market cigarette smugglers attempting to stash their haul in the city while finding overseas buyers, a law enforcement source said on Tuesday.

He said that due to the coronavirus pandemic, ports around the world had tightened quarantine controls, which had seriously disrupted seaborne logistics supply chains, including shipping routes for contraband items.

“Smugglers tried to stockpile their goods in Hong Kong while finding buyers from places such as Australia, New Zealand or Europe,” the source said.

He added that some syndicates were also using another tactic called “merry-go-round” to keep illegal cigarettes circulating through different countries before buyers were found.

“In this ruse, illegal tobacco products are being shipped through different ports in Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea, Cambodia and Vietnam before being smuggled to the final destination,” he said.

In one of the two latest cases, customs seized 10 million illicit cigarettes hidden in a shipping container that arrived in the city from Cambodia late last month. The cargo was declared as knitted fabric. Law enforcers opened the container for inspection last Thursday.

“Near the container’s door, the first layer was bags of fabric. Behind this, there were 1,000 boxes containing 10 million contraband cigarettes,” the source said. The haul had an estimated street value of HK$28 million.