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Hong Kong Customs yesterday (November 22) seized the largest haul of cross-boundary smuggled cigarettes this year.
The officers seized from a Mainland river trade vessel 21.5 million sticks of illicit cigarettes, worth $32 million and with duty potential of $17 million.
Customs officers from the Anti-Illicit-Cigarette Investigation Division and Container Terminals Division found the cigarettes from two containers declared to be carrying asbestos sheets and which were bound for Malaysia.
The vessel came from Huangpu Port, Guangzhou, on the Mainland.
Initial investigations showed that a syndicate had tried to smuggle illicit cigarettes to Malaysia via Hong Kong and profit from selling the haul in Southeast Asia.
A spokesman for Customs and Excise Department today (November 23) stressed that the department would continue its stringent enforcement against smuggling activities.
Smuggling is a serious offence and the maximum penalty is a fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.
Ends/Friday, November 23, 2007
Issued at HKT 18:56
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