Customs seizes over 600 million illicit cigarettes
Bastillepost · 2 SOURCESabout 2 hours ago4 MIN
Summary
Hong Kong Customs Commissioner Chan Tsz-tat (陳子達) said on Saturday that officers seized more than 600 million illicit cigarettes in the first three quarters of the year, a figure close to the total for the whole of last year. He said more than 200 million of the cigarettes were not intended for Hong Kong's market, but were being routed through the city to other destinations.
Key Points
- Chan said Customs has cracked more than 18,000 illicit cigarette cases so far this year, covering both cross-boundary and local enforcement work.
- More than 16,000 of those cases involved inbound travellers who failed to declare carrying more than 19 cigarettes into Hong Kong.
- In those traveller cases, Customs used on-the-spot fines under a mechanism of conditional non-prosecution to reduce frontline workload and avoid heavy court-related social costs.
- Chan said that approach does not mean weaker enforcement, and is unrelated to whether the Department of Justice is lenient in considering prosecutions.
- He added that Customs will prosecute all cases involving illicit cigarette storage depots in the community or travellers smuggling large quantities in multiple suitcases.
Why It Matters
The figures indicate that Hong Kong is dealing not only with cigarettes aimed at the local market, but also with shipments moving through the city to other regions. Chan said courts treat serious smuggling cases seriously and generally impose jail terms of several months, which Customs believes sends a clear deterrent message.