Hong Kong Customs detects largest speedboat smuggling case on record

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong Customs said Thursday it has cracked its largest speedboat smuggling case on record and seized smuggled goods worth about 120 million HK dollars ($15.46 million) during an operation earlier this month.

The seizure included about 66,000 pieces of high-value goods, about 2.3 tons of expensive food ingredients and about 186 kg of scheduled endangered species, the Hong Kong Customs said, adding that this is the largest speedboat smuggling case it has detected on record in terms of seizure value.

Hong Kong Customs said that in view of the recent upward trend of sea smuggling activities, it has stepped up intelligence exchanges with the anti-smuggling departments of the mainland customs. They mounted a joint anti-smuggling operation codenamed Xun Lei since March, targeting a cross-boundary smuggling syndicate for an in-depth investigation.

From March to April, authorities of the mainland customs first took action and raided three storehouses suspected to be used for storing smuggled goods in the mainland, and Hong Kong Customs conducted operations from June 2 to 7 in the financial hub, it said.

During the whole operation, the total value of the suspected smuggled goods seized by Hong Kong Customs was about 120 million HK dollars. Together with the smuggled goods seized by the mainland customs, the total value of the seizures has amounted to over 180 million HK dollars.