Customs Arrest 22 In Meat, Fruit Smuggling Bust

Customs officers have arrested 22 people in waters west of Hong Kong for allegedly attempting to smuggle HK$20 million worth of frozen meat and fruit into the mainland.

Authorities say they spotted seven suspicious vessels – a cargo vessel, three barges, and three tugboats – off Lung Kwu Chau in the evening of October 15, and moved to intercept and examine them as they were about to leave the SAR’s waters.

On board, they found 240 tonnes of frozen meat, which included beef and pork from the UK, the US, India, Brazil and Chile worth about HK$19.5 million. They also found 600 cartons of fruit, including honeydew, passion fruit, yellow pitaya and grapes from Japan and Ecuador estimated to have a market value of around HK$500,000.

A customs divisional commander, Wong Ngar-lun, said the fruit was probably included in the suspected smuggling operation because the suspects could move large amounts of them in one go through the sea route.

Smuggling this food to the mainland could save about 15 million yuan in taxes, customs officers said.

The Customs Department also said this was the first time they had seen barges being used to smuggle high-end fruit.

They also said they found specially designed nylon bags that are more durable and could hold a large amount of meat; they suspect the arrestees used them to move the goods quicker and escape investigation.

They're not ruling out further arrests, as the operation is ongoing.