HONG KONG: Hong Kong Customs has smashed a supply chain of an illicit cigarette syndicate and seized about 38 000 sticks of cigarettes. The total market value of the cigarettes was about $100,000 with a duty potential of about $65,000. In the operation, three man aged between 25 and 47 were arrested and three vehicles used for conveying the illicit cigarettes were also seized.
Customs conducted a series of in-depth investigations into the source of selling illicit cigarette telephone-ordering, and found that the syndicate smuggled the cigarettes into Hong Kong by hiding them in concealed compartments of cross-boundary private cars.