Customs To Step Up Anti-smuggling Work

The Customs and Excise Department said on Wednesday that officers will step up inspections for contraband, after reporting a substantial surge in drug trafficking cases last year.

Authorities said they seized around seven tonnes of drugs last year – a 70 percent jump from the year before.

As tourism resumes and inbound travellers returns to the SAR, the department said it expects to find more drugs on passengers, adding that anti-smuggling teams will be deployed to the various border checkpoints.

"In 2021, we detected a few cases involving only 3 kilograms of drugs [on passengers]. But last year, in 2022, we detected 25 kilograms of drugs through the passengers' channel," said Louise Ho, the Commissioner of Customs and Excise.

Ho added that her department will also do more to combat the smuggling of illicit cigarettes, after officers seized a record-breaking 730 million of those last year.

She said it’s important to step up law enforcement after Financial Secretary Paul Chan announced in his budget last week that the duty on each cigarette would rise by 60 cents.

"Immediately after the increase of tobacco duty, we have mounted a series of special operations at all levels, including the import level, the storage level, wholesale level and the retail level and stepped up our inspection and interdiction," the Customs chief said.