Customs Seize 27 Million Illicit Cigarettes

Customs officers on Tuesday said they had confiscated some 27 million illicit cigarettes in two separate operations earlier this month.

About two thirds of the haul was seized in Yuen Long last week, with a 40-year-old truck driver arrested in connection with the case.

Officers said they stopped a truck on Kung Um Road on May 4 and found 12 million illicit cigarettes.

A subsequent probe led them to a warehouse nearby where they discovered another 4.6 million cigarettes.

Yip Lap-man, a senior revenue investigator with customs, described the location of the warehouse as "remote" and the security there as "tight".

"Initial investigations suggested the cigarettes just arrived Hong Kong and they were waiting to be distributed," he said, adding that an ease in the local epidemic situation may have led to an increase in demand for illicit cigarettes.

Officers said the contraband – with a street value of HK$46 million – should have generated HK$32 million in tax revenue.

In a separate operation, officers found 10 million illicit cigarettes in a shipping container which arrived from Cambodia. Yip said the cargo – destined for the Philippines – was declared to contain fabric.

He said a syndicate had adopted a complicated route to try to make detection more difficult.