********************************************************
With the Lunar New Year around the corner, Hong Kong Customs has stepped up enforcement against illicit cigarette activities.
Customs officers yesterday (January 10) seized from a lorry in Yuen Long 1.63 million illicit cigarettes, valued at $2.5 million and with a duty potential of $1.31 million.
A 36-year-old male driver was arrested. He is on bail pending further investigation. A lorry was also impounded.
A spokesman for the Customs and Excise Department said that the department had intensified surveillance at illicit cigarette off-loading black spots on shore. He said Customs believed that offenders might have switched to the sea route for smuggling cigarettes as a result of the tightened-up checks on suspicious vehicles at all land boundary control points.
After mounting surveillance for a few days, customs officers of Anti-Illicit-Cigarette Investigation Division conducted an operation at Wang Lok Street, Yuen Long, yesterday.
They seized from a lorry the haul, which was believed to have been smuggled into Hong Kong by sea.
Anyone who contravenes the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance will face a maximum penalty of imprisonment for two years and a fine of $1 million.
Ends/Friday, January 11, 2008
Issued at HKT 18:10
NNNN
