HONG KONG: Forty-eight people have been arrested for selling or buying illicit cigarettes in a customs special operation, said Deputy Head of the Revenue and General Investigation Bureau of Hong Kong Customs Kong Shui-wing.

Kong announced in a press briefing yesterday that about 450,000 illicit cigarettes worth about HK$860,000 with a dutiable value of HK$540,000 had been seized.

The two-month special operation from late November last year targeted the sales of illicit cigarettes by telephone orders. A total of 40 cases have been recorded as of yesterday. The arrested 48, aged from 15 to 74, include four buyers and 44 sellers.

Kong stressed that buying or selling illicit cigarettes was a criminal offense. The maximum penalty is imprisonment for two years and a fine of HK$1 million.

The recent police actions are an extension of robust enforcement actions taken against illicit cigarettes in recent years. The number of cases of smuggling, storage, distribution or peddling of illicit cigarettes has increased about 82 percent from 2008 to 2009. Meanwhile, the number of cigarettes seized has decreased by about 20 percent, according to Hong Kong Customs.

As for the concern that the problem of smuggled cigarettes in Hong Kong has become worse since the government increased the tobacco tax by 50 percent in February 2008, it is one that Judith Mackay, professor of the School of Public Health of the University of Hong Kong, does not share. "Smuggled cigarettes have always come in. The government's policy is to bring down the number of smokers and encourage people to quit. It is not related," she said.

The illicit cigarette is not just a serious problem in Hong Kong, but also worldwide. "One third of international traded cigarettes are smuggled," Mackay said.

"The big, big problem is, smuggled cigarettes encourage more young people to smoke," Mackay said. Smuggled cigarettes are much cheaper and young people are very price-sensitive, she explained.

She added that tobacco companies are still making money from smuggled cigarettes, but governments are losing tax income. Moreover, Mackay indicated, there are no health warning notices on the illegal cigarette packs.

(HK Edition 01/28/2010 page1)