Demosisto Activist Arrested Over Mask Labelling

Demosisto activist Tobias Leung has been arrested by customs officers, who allege he violated the Trade Descriptions Ordinance by selling incorrectly-labelled surgical masks. The masks had "Not made in China" written on the packages.

In a statement, Customs said a 24-year-old man had been arrested and released on bail following a tip-off about masks being supplied through restaurants by an online trader. They said the arrest came after a building in San Po Kong was searched and where over 32,000 masks, worth more than HK$93,000, were seized.

Officers sent one of the masks to a laboratory for bacterial tests to see whether it contravened the Consumer Goods Safety Ordinance. The results showed it complied. But Customs said the trader failed to provide authentication to prove that the masks complied with the labelling claims.

Writing on its social media page, Demosisto said officers had searched the party's headquarters and seized over 900 boxes of masks. It accused authorities of using the ordinance for political censorship, adding that the government wanted to suppress dissent.

Customs said the operation had been part of a spot-check enforcement operation on protective items, that had been ongoing since January.