Customs detected 7,148 cases last year, a decrease of about 10% year-on-year, nearly half of which involved illicit cigarettes, and seized more than 730 million sticks of illicit cigarettes, an increase of 70%, setting a record high in single-year seizures in history.
Customs Commissioner He Peishan said on a radio program today (2nd) that the epidemic has increased logistics costs, and the smuggling cigarette group is inclined to large-scale cargo smuggling. She predicts that the situation will continue after customs clearance. Smuggling patterns of normal cargo will also increase.
Hong Kong immediately raised the tobacco tax on the day when the "Budget" was released. She said that there was no obvious increase in smuggled cigarettes for the time being, but she would continue to monitor the situation.
He Peishan, Commissioner of Customs.
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Customs detected 7,148 cases last year, a year-on-year decrease of about 10%, about half of which involved illicit cigarette activities.
Among the 3,436 cases of illicit cigarettes detected last year, more than 730 million sticks of illicit cigarettes were seized, a sharp increase of 70%, which is a new high in the history of single-year seizures.
There are illicit cigarettes temporarily stored in Hong Kong to be shipped to other regions
Ho Peishan said in Hong Kong and Taiwan's "Millennium" that due to the impact of the epidemic on logistics arrangements and increased costs, illicit cigarette groups tend to smuggle goods on a large scale. In addition to supplying the local market, some of the seized illicit cigarettes are temporarily stored in Hong Kong and wait timing to ship to other regions or countries.
She predicts that after customs clearance, large-scale smuggling of illicit cigarettes by sea will continue, but some sea smuggling activities will change their mode. The customs will closely monitor the situation.
▼The budget announced on February 22 will increase the tobacco tax by 30%▼
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▼After the fiscal budget was announced on February 22 to increase the tobacco tax, the retail price of cigarettes was immediately increased by 12 yuan▼
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The "Financial Budget" proposes an immediate increase in tobacco tax. Ho Pui-shan pointed out that no significant increase in illicit cigarette activities has been found so far, but the Customs will not neglect and has flexibly allocated resources to carry out anti-illicit cigarette work.
Work with Mainland Customs to focus on cracking down on parallel imports
Hong Kong has resumed comprehensive customs clearance with the Mainland. When asked about the smuggling situation of parallel importers, Ho Pui-shan said that the Customs is actively collecting information on parallel importers, and has recently held a meeting with the Mainland Customs.
She also said that the activities of parallel imports in Hong Kong are becoming more and more active, and if any suspicious cases are encountered, they will be referred to the Mainland Customs for follow-up. She believes that the cooperation between the two parties has been effective.
In addition, Ho Pei-shan mentioned that Hong Kong’s entry and exit epidemic prevention restrictions were gradually relaxed in the middle and late last year, and citizens’ outbound travel increased. The number of travel service reports received by customs last year increased from 173 in 2021 to 232 last year. Ordering hotel air tickets, etc., as the tourism industry returns to normal, Customs will continue to monitor the unfavorable business conditions in the industry.
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Customs arrested 3 people and seized 11 million yuan in illicit cigarettes, rented vacant shops in Mong Kok as smuggled cigarette warehouses, Ugandan man suspected of smuggling ice into his shirt, was seized by customs airport with a market value of about 1.7 million yuan Defrauded 160,000 yuan and sentenced to 240-hour customs year-end｜Newly recruited inspectors have to go to Shanghai for 5 days to exchange and set up a rapid response team to prevent "catch-up" customs year-end｜The total amount of drugs seized increased by 70%. Transnational criminal groups dispatched ocean shipping Drug net sells counterfeit Gucci, Chanel and other cosmetics and perfumes. Customs arrests a woman for inspection of 1,800 items
