After the female senior inspector of the Marine Police, Lin Wanyi, fell to the sea in an anti-smuggling operation and died on duty, law enforcement agencies have recently focused on combating smuggling at sea.
The Customs and Excise Department of Hong Kong, the police and the Lands Department have jointly cracked down on maritime smuggling activities at various smuggling black spots on Lantau Island from September 30 to today (6), and found that a smuggling syndicate occupying about 10,000 feet of official land to store and maintain smuggling speedboats .
The law enforcement agencies took a joint action on October 4 to detain 39 speedboats suspected of illegal modification or construction and 8 brand new outboard engines in Niu Au Village, Tung Chung, with a market value of about 13 million yuan. They were suspected of being illegally occupied. Lease land.
The relevant items have been taken over by the Lands Department.
Customs and the police will follow the direction of smuggling investigations. Once the vessel is found to be used for smuggling, arrests cannot be ruled out.
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The commander of the Special Investigation Group 2 of the Customs Organized Crime Investigation Division, Huang Zhenfu, explained the case. After in-depth investigation and intelligence analysis, the Customs found that smugglers had been using Lantau Island for smuggling activities. The release, maintenance and modification of speedboats, which occupy official government land, violates Section 6 of the Land (Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance, Chapter 28 of the Laws of Hong Kong, illegally occupying unleased land.
The Customs then conducted a special joint operation with police and Lands Department personnel to seize 39 suspected illegal modifications and 8 brand new high-horsepower outboard engines in Niu Au Village, Tung Chung, with a market value of 13 million.
Officers noticed that nearly half of the speedboats are equipped with two or more outboard engines, which are the speedboats commonly used for smuggling recently.
Some speedboats are not registered with the Marine Department at all.
The Customs will understand why speedboats are equipped with multiple outboard engines. Secondly, they will contact the owners of the speedboats to investigate the purpose of the speedboats.
Liu Jiaye, Assistant Commander (Operations) of the Marine Police West Division, said that since the land border was closed, the smugglers switched to high-horsepower speedboats to smuggle at sea.
The police began a series of anti-smuggling operations on September 28, and cooperated with the land police, customs, maritime department, and government flying service to conduct long-term intelligence collection.
During the high-altitude patrol, the police and the Flying Service found that a number of speedboats were hiding in the mangroves. So in the afternoon of October 4, they cooperated with the Customs and Lands Department and found that 39 speedboats were illegally appraising government land.
Liu Jiaye described the location of Niu'ao Village as quite hidden. He believes that smugglers, under repeated strikes by law enforcement agencies, transported them by speedboat to hide and repair, and did not rule out transporting them by land.
Liu Jiaye pointed out that the speedboat is equipped with two or more outboard engines of 300 or 400 horsepower, which can make the speedboat speed more than 50 nautical miles, that is, close to the speed of 80 kilometers per hour on land, posing great danger to sea drivers.
The police will continue to work closely with other government departments.
Yuan Shijun, Chief Lands Officer of the Outlying Islands Lands Office of the Lands Department, according to Article 6 of the Land (Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance, Chapter 28 of the Laws of Hong Kong, the Lands Administration posted a notice on the speedboat involved, requesting that the occupation of government land be stopped as soon as possible. It may be confiscated and will not be returned, and the speedboat will be disposed of in accordance with relevant laws.
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