Hong Kong Customs on September 8 broke up an alleged duty-unpaid tobacco export transit station and two packaging and storage sites in Kwai Chung and Kwu Tung, seizing about 12.82 million cigarettes, 6,300kg of tobacco and other smoking products. A 55-year-old local lorry driver was arrested.
Officers intercepted the driver at a logistics warehouse in Kwai Chung while goods were being prepared for export. They found about 1.04 million duty-unpaid cigarettes in the lorry’s cargo compartment, according to reports.
Follow-up searches at two metal-sheet structures in Kwu Tung uncovered 6.1 million cigarettes and 6,300kg of manufactured tobacco at one site. The other contained 5.68 million cigarettes, 1,800 boxes of smokeless tobacco products and about 14,000 alternative smoking products.
Customs reportedly found that some of the tobacco had been repackaged and sealed with sound-insulating tape. Some manufactured tobacco was allegedly labelled as pet food or cat food to conceal the goods and facilitate their export; these details are reported investigative findings, not established court facts.
Ming Pao reported that the products included cigarette substitutes such as electronic cigarettes and chewing tobacco. Customs believed, according to the report, that exporting the products was intended to generate higher profits.
Reports differed on the estimated market value of the seized goods, putting it at either about HK$102 million or HK$128 million. The reported dutiable value ranged from about HK$67.65 million to HK$68 million. The driver was reported to have left Customs’ North Point headquarters on September 9. The supplied reports do not confirm whether he was charged or prosecuted.