Hong Kong customs officers have discovered 16.8 million sticks of contraband cigarettes that were concealed among dried tapioca in two 40-foot containers.
The boxes were shipped from Cambodia and suspicions were aroused after X-ray inspections suggested that something was hidden in the consignment of 2,200 packages.
The Customs and Excise Department does not rule out the possibility that the cigarettes may have been intended to be re-exported. No arrests have been made as investigations are continuing.
Acting investigator Chiu Kai-wing said at a briefing on 18 August that the containers were inspected at Kwai Chung Container Terminal in Hong Kong on 15 August. The X-ray showed that the density of the boxes positioned near the door of the containers was different from boxes at the rear of the containers. It turned out that some boxes full of dried tapioca were positioned near the container door, to conceal boxes containing the duty-unpaid cigarettes that were placed in the middle and the back of the containers.
Checks showed that dozens of cartons near the container door contained chopped dried tapioca, while the other cartons contained contraband cigarettes.
Customs officers were also suspicious as Hong Kong usually imports dried tapioca from Thailand and Vietnam, and it is rare to receive such goods from Cambodia.
There were also fewer boxes and their weight was lower than what was stated in the shipper’s declaration.
The cigarettes had a street value of HK$62 million (US$7.91 million) and would have yielded taxes of HK$42 million (US$5.36 million) had they been declared.
Chiu said that more duty-unpaid cigarettes are being smuggled into the territory, after the Hong Kong government upped tobacco taxes by HK$12 (US$1.50) in February, pushing cigarette prices up to HK$78 (US$10) a pack.
More than 460 million contraband cigarettes worth more than HK$1.5 billion (US$191.4 million) so far this year, which would have generated HK$1 billion (US$127.6 million) in tax revenue.
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
