Hong Kong Customs conducted an anti-smuggling operation in the waters west of Hong Kong last night (21st), during which it detected a case of smuggling goods to Macau by means of river boats in the waters off Lan Kok Tsui, and seized a batch of bets that will be released today (22nd). ) a Mark Six lottery lottery draw in the evening; a batch of smuggled smartphones and tablet computers with an estimated market value of about $10 million was also seized.
During the operation, two mainland men aged 37 and 59 were arrested.
This is the first time that Hong Kong Customs has discovered smugglers who smuggled local Mark Six lottery tickets overseas.
The Mark Six lottery tickets involved in the case are all "Computer Fly", with about 16,000 tickets and a betting amount of about 330,000 yuan. It is believed that the lottery tickets and electronic goods are supplied to the mainland and Macau markets.
Huang Zhiqiang, the senior investigation officer of the second special investigation team of the Customs Organised Crime Investigation Bureau, said that a large number of people involved in the case had bet on the Mark Six lottery, and the betting date was tonight. The smuggling group purchased these Mark Six lottery tickets in large quantities in Hong Kong, and then smuggled them to Macau and the mainland for profit. It is believed that each lottery ticket can be resold for a profit of 4 to 13 yuan, depending on the winnings of the night.
Huang also pointed out that this is also the third case of smuggling syndicates using river boats to smuggle goods along the same route that Customs has detected again after June and August this year. The smuggling groups have adopted new methods, deliberately dispersing smuggled goods and other large quantities of goods in the cabin, in order to increase the difficulty of law enforcement and evade detection.
The electronic products seized this time have always been in high demand in the mainland. In addition, the mainland has levied taxes of up to 63% to 108% on these products. If this batch of goods is successfully smuggled back to the mainland, it is estimated that they can be evaded. Taxes are as high as 8 million yuan.
As the epidemic has affected the customs clearance of passengers from Hong Kong and the mainland, the customs does not rule out the use of Macao by criminals to smuggle the goods involved into the mainland.
At about 6:30 yesterday evening, Customs stopped a river vessel in the northwest waters of Hong Kong for search, during which it was found that the vessel was carrying more than 50 boards, each with about 30 boxes of different types of goods.
Due to the large amount of cargo, it took a long time for the personnel to check the cargo information on the cargo manifest. Therefore, a high-tech portable X-ray scanner was used to inspect the cargo. Does not conform to the food declared on the cargo manifest.
Officers conducted further searches and eventually found a batch of smuggled high-value electronic products such as mobile phones and tablet computers in the batch of goods reported as food.
Cai Xianming, senior inspector of the Maritime Action Team of the Customs Port and Maritime Division, said that the customs had reason to believe that smugglers deliberately mixed these high-value electronic products into bulk cargo in an attempt to increase the difficulty of personnel searches.
Customs seized smuggled Mark Six lottery tickets for the first time and seized smuggled mobile phones and tablet computers worth 10 million yuan.
(Photo by Leung Wai Kwan)
The case was referred to the Organised Crime Bureau for follow-up.
Chow Chun-hung, the investigation officer of Special Investigation Unit 2 of the Organised Crime Bureau of the Customs, said that until noon today, more than 6,000 smuggled goods, including 3,000 mobile phones, were found on board. tablet PCs, with an estimated total market value of over 10 million yuan.
At the same time, the customs found for the first time a large number of Mark Six lottery tickets that were not listed on the manifest, and about 16,000 tickets were initially counted.
Zhou Xu said that two mainland male crew members, aged 37 and 59, respectively, were arrested. The inspection and follow-up investigation of the cargo is still ongoing. Customs cannot rule out that more people will be arrested.
According to the customs investigation, the smuggling syndicate involved may employ some persons to purchase tickets in large quantities through computerized ticket sales at betting stations.
Customs will investigate the proportion of the lottery tickets involved in the supply to Macau and the Mainland, and will later verify with the Hong Kong Jockey Club how the lottery tickets were purchased and the source of the amount.
A spokesman for the Hong Kong Jockey Club said that according to the club's policy, if the winning lottery ticket is not claimed within 60 days, the winnings will be transferred to the Duobao Pool.
