Author Archives: hksar gov

     â€‹Hong Kong Customs yesterday (May 21) and today (May 22) raided three suspected illicit cigarette storehouses in Chai Wan and Ap Lei Chau. A total of about 28 million suspected illicit cigarettes with an estimated market value of about $77 million and a duty potential of about $53 million were seized, making it the largest illicit cigarette storage case detected by Customs in the past 21 years.

     During an anti-illicit cigarette operation mounted in Chai Wan last night, Customs officers seized about eight million suspected illicit cigarettes inside an industrial building unit and a lorry. Three men, aged between 28 and 53, suspected to be in connection with the case were arrested.

     After follow-up investigation, Customs officers further seized about 20 million suspected illicit cigarettes from another two industrial building units in Chai Wan and Ap Lei Chau in the early hours today.

     An investigation is ongoing. Customs will continue to trace the source and the flow of the illicit cigarettes. The likelihood of further arrests is not ruled out.

     The three arrested men were charged with “dealing with goods to which the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance applies” and will appear at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts tomorrow (May 23).

     Customs will continue its risk assessment and intelligence analysis for interception at source as well as through its multi-pronged enforcement strategy targeting storage, distribution and peddling to spare no effort in combating illicit cigarette activities.

     Smuggling is a serious offence. Under the Import and Export Ordinance, any person found guilty of importing or exporting unmanifested cargo is liable to a maximum fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.

     Under the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance, anyone involved in dealing with, possession of, selling or buying illicit cigarettes commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $1 million and imprisonment for two years.

     Members of the public may report any suspected illicit cigarette activities to Customs’ 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).

        

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:        As at 0.00am today (May 22), a total of 512 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 are currently hospitalised for treatment, including 37 new patient… read more

     The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) today (May 22) announced the latest epidemic situation of COVID-19. As of 0.00am, May 22, the CHP was investigating 94 additional cases that tested po… read more

     The 3rd Barcelona Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Festival (the Festival) was held on May 21-22 (Barcelona Time) in Castelldefels, Barcelona in Spain.  The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Brussels (HKETO, B… read more

     The Task Force of Supplies from the Mainland led by the Transport and Housing Bureau (THB) has been working closely with the Guangdong Provincial Government and the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government to explore various means to stabilise the supply of goods from the Mainland to Hong Kong. In addition to road transport arrangements, transportation of goods by water and railway is already in service.
 
     A spokesperson for the THB said that the “Sea Express” water transportation service from the Mainland to Hong Kong has been fully launched and its capacity is rising to increase the supplies of fresh food, other daily necessities and manufacturing materials. The current supply of fresh food from the Mainland is stable.
 
     Currently, there are three water transportation routes between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, namely (1) from Shenzhen Yantian International Container Terminals to Hong Kong Kwai Tsing Container Terminals (KTCT); (2) from Shenzhen DaChan Bay Terminals to KTCT; and (3) from China Merchants Port (South China) Management Center (Shenzhen Mawan, Shekou and Chiwan Container Terminals) to Hong Kong River Trade Terminal and elsewhere. Together with the water transportation routes from other cities in Guangdong Province, including the routes from Guangzhou Lianhuashan Port, Nansha Port, Huadu Port, Zhongshan Huangpu Port and Zhuhai Doumen Port to different terminals in Hong Kong, the water transport capacity amounts to tens of thousands of tonnes daily.
 
     The spokesperson said today (May 22) that Shenzhen operated 61 cargo vessel trips and transported around 7 290 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cross-boundary supplies by water yesterday (May 21), equivalent to about 27 470 tonnes of goods, of which around 30 TEUs (about 160 tonnes) were fresh food and around 7 260 TEUs (about 27 310 tonnes) were non-fresh food, according to information from the Mainland authorities.
 
     Since the launch of services from the three ports in Shenzhen since February 18 to yesterday, a total of around 400 070 TEUs of cross-boundary supplies have been transported, equivalent to about 2 022 070 tonnes of goods, of which around 1 740 TEUs (about 14 910 tonnes) were fresh food and around 398 330 TEUs (about 2 007 160 tonnes) were non-fresh food.
 
     To further ensure a stable goods supply to Hong Kong through land transport, a trial run of cargo transfer was conducted by the THB at a yard situated on Kam Pok Road, San Tin, Yuen Long, and it was completed smoothly. The THB will continue to work with the Mainland authorities to fully take forward cargo transfer arrangements on the Hong Kong side. It is a contingency measure in response to the latest epidemic situation in the city so as to reduce the risk of epidemic transmission in both the Mainland and Hong Kong, ensuring both smooth cross-boundary land transport and a stable goods supply to Hong Kong.
 
     Meanwhile, to avoid a spillover of the epidemic, the Transport Department (TD) has arranged for dedicated staff to conduct rapid antigen tests for cross-boundary goods vehicle drivers at various land boundary control points (BCPs) from February 28 onwards. Only drivers with a negative result are allowed to enter the Mainland. In order to further improve the accuracy of the tests, the TD has already switched to use rapid nucleic acid tests at the BCPs. Starting from April 21, the sampling method for rapid nucleic acid tests has been further changed to nasopharyngeal swabs. A total of 2 464 rapid nucleic acid tests were conducted yesterday in which 15 drivers preliminarily tested positive. The TD has passed the cases to the Department of Health for follow-up.
 
     The THB will closely monitor the situation and co-operate with the Mainland authorities to facilitate and implement various measures to ensure a stable goods supply to Hong Kong, with a view to complementing the supply through road, water and railway transport, enhancing capacity and efficiency as well as optimising the flow of cross-boundary supplies. read more