The police and Customs revealed that some people used small cargo ships to smuggle sea cucumbers worth about 17 million yuan. A total of 6 men and 1 woman were arrested. Some of them have triad backgrounds. They were suspected of "conspiring to export unmanifested cargo."
In mid-November of this year, there was intelligence that someone used the Western Public Cargo Handling Area to carry out smuggling activities. The customs and police took a joint action to lock the operation mode and membership of the smuggling group after intelligence collection and investigation. Successfully intercepted $17 million in suspected smuggling sea cucumbers and 2 men and 1 woman on board in the waters south of Cheung Chau; the police arrested 4 men in the public cargo handling area in the Western District.
The Chief Inspector of the Anti-Triad Action Team of the Hong Kong Island Police, He Enjie, said that at noon the day before (28th), 120 boxes of cargo were transported to the Western Public Cargo Handling Area, and then a small cargo ship was transported on the ship. Drive to the waters south of Hong Kong.
Lim Mingkang, Senior Inspector of the Sea Assault and Strategic Planning Section of the Customs Ports and Maritimes Branch, described the interception operation and said that the customs dispatched two high-speed interception boats on the same day. After receiving police information, they found a small cargo ship in the waters south of Cheung Chau. The personnel were suspicious of the type and route of the vessel, and suspected that it was the target vessel.
The ship tried to dock to avoid radar detection by the customs. Customs officers launched an action and finally succeeded in stopping the ship 1.3 nautical miles south of the Hong Kong water boundary. 120 boxes of suspected high-value seafood weighing 3,560 kg were found on the ship. Two men and one woman (aged 33 to 63) were arrested on the ship, worth about 17 million Hong Kong dollars.
The police subsequently arrested 4 men in the Western Public Cargo Handling Area. The arrested persons were between 31 and 80 years old. Their roles included crew members, porters and truck drivers.
A smuggling vessel and a delivery truck were also seized during the operation.
According to Lu Shaohui, Assistant Supervisor of the Special Investigation Group 1 of the Organized Crime Investigation Bureau of Customs, smuggling syndicates used speedboats and river boats to smuggle in the past, but this time they used small cargo ships, which looked very similar to kaito. Generally, these types of ships were used for port transportation. However, when the vessel involved in the case was stopped, the customs officers found a freight bill in the port, and most of the information on the bill was false.
Lu Shaohui pointed out that it is not ruled out that criminals use small boats as a disguise, pretending to be transport in the port, and actually gradually move the smuggled goods to the waters and sail out of the waters of Hong Kong.
(Photo by Huang Weimin)
01News
