Burst
Written by: Tang Boliang Chen Nuoxi
2021-05-15 13:42
Last update date: 2021-05-15 13:42
Affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, traffic between China and Hong Kong has been blocked, and criminals have turned to smuggling goods by sea for profit, while the trend of private ownership by sea is on the rise.
In the early morning of yesterday (14th), the customs carried out an anti-smuggling operation off the controlled waters at the Hong Kong International Airport's third-run construction site and discovered that a fishing boat had sneaked into the restricted area to smuggle high-value goods to speedboats.
After the smugglers were alarmed that Xingzang had been exposed, they jumped on a speedboat and fled to the mainland at high speed in the waters of more than 100 engineering ships. The customs officers chased them to no avail for about 10 minutes.
The customs eventually detained a fishing vessel involved in the case and seized smuggled goods worth 50 million yuan, including 140 kilograms of rough amber and the latest models of gaming products.
This is also the largest case of maritime smuggling cracked by the Customs this year.
The Senior Supervisor of the Organized Crime Investigation Division of Customs, Hu Weijun, explained the facts of the case that the Hong Kong Maritime Affairs Bureau conducted an anti-smuggling operation in the waters north of the Hong Kong International Airport on May 14 and successfully cracked a case of smuggling suspected of using fishing boats and speedboats.
During the operation, officers seized a batch of smuggled goods, including electronic products, high-priced food materials, clothing and cosmetics, with an estimated market value of up to 50 million yuan, and detained a fishing boat suspected of being involved in the case.
In response to the recent upward trend of maritime smuggling, the Customs mobilized officers from the Organized Crime Investigation Bureau and the Port and Maritime Division in the early morning of May 14 to enforce the law in the waters north of the Hong Kong International Airport.
At that time, officers found a fishing boat without lights and slowly approached the engineering vessel at the airport's third-run construction site. Later, another speedboat with no lights approached the fishing boat.
The three men on the fishing boat used the boom on the boat to transport large quantities of goods to the speedboat.
When the time was right, the customs officers acted immediately. When the smugglers on the fishing boat saw the situation, they jumped on the speedboat and fled inland at high speed.
Customs officers deployed two high-speed interceptor boats to participate in the pursuit, but the officers found that the smugglers did not accelerate in a straight line. Instead, they pierced left and right in the sea area with more than 100 engineering ships. The smugglers moved at high speed without navigation lights. The voyage caused great danger to other vessels and customs officers. After a 10-minute chase, the speedboat departed in the waters west of Hong Kong International Airport.
Huang Yalun, commander of the Marine Assault and Strategic Planning Group of the Port and Maritime Division, pointed out that the sea area off the Hong Kong International Airport's third-run construction site is designated as a restricted area. No ships are allowed to enter or pass unless a permit is obtained.
(Photo by Chen Nuoxi)
Huang Yalun, commander of the Marine Assault and Strategic Planning Group of the Port and Maritime Division, pointed out that the reclamation project of the third runway of the Hong Kong International Airport is huge, exceeding 650 hectares.
The sea area varies in depth and the coastline is long, which often provides a barrier for smuggling groups, making it difficult for law enforcement officers to find the location of loading and unloading.
The waters off the Hong Kong International Airport's third-run construction site are designated as restricted areas, and no ships are allowed to enter and pass unless a permit is obtained.
The customs does not rule out smugglers taking risks, using the method of mixing fish, pretending to participate in the project, driving fishing boats into restricted areas, and unloading goods from speedboats for smuggling.
In addition, in order to improve the performance of the carrier, the smugglers also increased the size of the ship, and used a larger horsepower external combustion engine to increase the ship's speed to 40 to 50 nautical miles, increasing the carrying capacity and reducing the time required.
The speedboat involved in this case is more than 10 meters in length and equipped with four external combustion engines with a total of 1,200 horsepower. The speed can exceed 60 nautical miles per hour, and it takes only 4 minutes to escape into the inland waters.
The Organized Crime Bureau specifically investigated the second group commander Huang Zhenfu. This time, the smugglers abandoned the traditional method of smuggling by speedboat. Instead, they switched to inconspicuous fishing boats and sailed into the restricted zone system. The fishing boats turned into marine cargo warehouses.
The smugglers waited until the early hours of the morning to feel safe before contacting the speedboat for delivery, and using the boom of the fishing boat to transport a large number of smugglers onto the speedboat, and then quickly sail back to the mainland.
The smugglers are very vigilant, and even the ships deploying speedboats suspect that they are conducting counter-surveillance to the enforcement personnel, increasing the difficulty of law enforcement.
Customs believes that the main reason is the huge demand for jewelry and handicrafts made from amber in the Mainland in recent years.
(Photo by Chen Nuoxi)
During the operation, officers seized a large number of high-value goods on the fishing vessel involved. Among them, the highest value was electronic products, including the latest models of e-sports products, with a total value of about 23 million yuan; followed by high-priced ingredients such as sea cucumber, fish maw, shark fin, bird’s nest, etc. It is worth about 18 million yuan, and finally other valuables, with a total value of about 8.3 million yuan, including the relatively rare rough amber stone.
Hu Weijun pointed out that in the past 20 years, the Customs has uncovered 7 cases of rough amber stones and seized a total of 500 kilograms of amber. This operation has seized 140 kilograms of rough amber stones with a market value of 2.1 million yuan, which is equivalent to one-third of the total number of seizures in the past 20 years. .
Customs believes that the main reason is the huge demand for jewelry and handicrafts made from amber in the Mainland in recent years.
According to online information, in addition to its beauty, some people believe that amber has the effects of sterilization, disinfection and evil spirits. In addition, the mainland imposes relatively heavy tariffs on amber. Therefore, criminals smuggle rough amber to the mainland by sea.
This case is the largest maritime smuggling case cracked by the Customs this year. Due to the huge value of the goods and the wide variety of goods, it is not ruled out that there is a smuggling group behind it.
The customs has also noticed that the number of smuggling by sea is on the rise. As of May 14, the customs has detected a total of 30 cases of smuggling by sea and seized a total of 180 million yuan of smuggled goods.
Smuggling cases have increased by 20% over the same period last year, and the total value of seized goods has increased by 30% over the same period last year.
Customs estimates that due to the epidemic situation, the exchanges between the two places have been blocked, and the mainland's demand for high-value goods is huge, so criminals are desperate to smuggle through dangerous waterways.
The Customs believes that if the criminals successfully smuggled this time, they could evade about 42 million in taxes.
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