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Danny Mok

Hong Kong customs seized HK$130 million (US$16.7 million) worth of items in an almost month-long effort to tackle cross-border smuggling ahead of and during the Lunar New Year.
During a 27 day operation, which started on January 14 and ended on February 9, customs arrested 1,203 people in connection with about 1,300 smuggling cases.
Goods from suspected endangered species, including pangolin scales, ivory tusks and products, red sandalwood logs, orchids and controlled shark fins, with an estimated value of about HK$73 million (US$9.4 million), accounted for 146 cases.
Raids uncovered 61 drug smuggling cases, resulting in the arrest of 28 people and the seizure of about 130kg (287 pounds) of suspected illegal drugs with an estimated market value of HK$22 million (US$2.8 million).

Most of the seizures involved methamphetamine, or “Ice”, cannabis, cocaine and gammaButyrolactone (GBL), often used as a date rape drug. The drugs were found mainly in parcels sent by air and on airline passengers.
Officers also seized copyright infringing products worth about HK$540,000 (US$69,233).
Other smuggled goods seized included frozen meat and mobile phone accessories valued at about HK$15 million (US$1.9 million).

In addition, about 5.3 million suspected illicit cigarettes and 98 litres of dutiable liquor with an estimated market value of about HK$15.5 million (US$2 million) were intercepted at various control points. These cases led to the arrests of 967 people.
Customs officers seize HK$11 million in fake goods in Sham Shui Po raid
Officers also seized 220kg (573 pounds) of game, meat and poultry and about 600 eggs that were imported into Hong Kong without a health certificate.
These cases were handed over to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department for action.

“Hong Kong customs have all along adopted a zero-tolerance approach against cross-border smuggling activities,” a spokesman said.
Officials seize HK$62 million shipment of ivory and pangolin scales
“Apart from strengthening deployment and making stringent enforcement actions during the festive period, customs officers will be equally vigilant in combating smuggling activities through risk assessment and intelligence analysis in their routine operation,” he said.


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Crime in Hong Kong

Hong Kong customs seize US$16.7 million of smuggled goods including drugs, ivory, shark fins, cigarettes and frozen meat in Lunar New Year raids

Customs officers seized wine bottles at Hong Kong International Airport containing four kilograms of suspected liquid cocaine with an estimated market value of about HK$4.8 million (US$615,000) during a comprehensive smuggling investigation. Photo: Handout

Hong Kong Customs mounted a special operation codenamed "Pathfinder" to combat cross-boundary smuggling activities before and during the Lunar New Year holiday. Photo shows about 600 kilograms of suspected scheduled dried shark fins of endangered species with an estimated market value of about $1.2 million seized from a container at the Kwai Chung Customhouse Cargo Examination Compound. Photo: ISD (Information Services Department)

Hong Kong Customs mounted a special operation codenamed "Pathfinder" to combat cross-boundary smuggling activities before and during the Lunar New Year holiday. Photo shows about 150 cartons of suspected counterfeit goods, mostly mobile phones accessories, with an estimated market value of about $400,000, seized from a container at the Customs Cargo Examination Compound of the River Trade Terminal in Tuen Mun. Photo: ISD (Information Services Department)

Hong Kong Customs mounted a special operation codenamed "Pathfinder" to combat cross-boundary smuggling activities before and during the Lunar New Year holiday. Photo show some of the suspected scheduled orchids seized. Photo: ISD (Information Services Department)

Customs officers deliver HK$62 million blow to smugglers after seizing container on its way to mainland China full of ivory and pangolin scales sent from Nigeria

Hong Kong Customs seized about 7,200 kilograms of ivory tusks on July 4 from a container from Malaysia at the Kwai Chung Customhouse Cargo Examination Compound. 06JUL17 SCMP / Dickson Lee

Two customs officer stand guard next to the record haul of ivory and pangolin scales. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

China has laws to stop pangolin trafficking – but what happens to the seized animals?

Pangolin seizures have been reported all over China but what is done with them after they are found is not always clear. Photo: AP

FILE - In this Friday, March 16, 2018 file photo, a pangolin from the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital is taken to a nearby field to forage for food near Johannesburg. Their scales _ made of keratin, the same material as in human finger nails _ are in high demand for Chinese traditional medicine, to allegedly cure several ailments, although there is no scientific backing for these beliefs. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell, File)

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***PAY PER USE. Please re-download from vendor website.*** Royalty-free stock photo ID: 782216896 ADMIRALTY, HONG KONG - DEC 21, 2017: Logo of Hong Kong Police Force on the wall of Hong Kong Police Headquarters.

Wildlife smugglers still at large after Hong Kong’s biggest ivory seizure in 30 years results in zero prosecutions

Hong Kong customs found 7.2 tonnes of tusks in a shipment of frozen fish in 2017. Photo: Dickson Lee

FILE - In this Sept. 29, 2013 file photo a game ranger stands next to a rotting elephant carcass poisoned by poachers with cyanide in Hwange National Park in Zimbabawe. Poachers in Zimbabwe have used cyanide to kill dozens of elephants for their ivory tusks. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi, File)

Ivory products are seem at Hollywood Road in Sheung Wan. 21DEC16 SCMP/Felix Wong

(FILES) In this file picture taken on July 6, 2017, a customs officer (R) stands guard next to seized elephant ivory tusks during a press conference at the Kwai Chung Customhouse Cargo Examination Compound in Hong Kong, following the city's largest seizure of ivory tusks in the last thirty years. Hong Kong voted to ban ivory sales in a landmark bill on January 31, 2018 to end the infamous trade in the city. / AFP PHOTO / ANTHONY WALLACE

Rhino horn Photo: Handout [FEATURES 2018]

News

Hong Kong

Law and Crime

Officers detect 1,300 smuggling cases during 27 day operation
28 people arrested in 61 cases of drug smuggling


Hong Kong customs seize US$16.7 million of smuggled goods including drugs, ivory, shark fins, cigarettes and frozen meat in Lunar New Year raids

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Officers detect 1,300 smuggling cases during 27 day operation 28 people arrested in 61 cases of drug smuggling

Officers detect 1,300 smuggling cases during 27 day operation

28 people arrested in 61 cases of drug smuggling