An incoming female passenger was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment and fined $1,000 by the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts today (September 15) for importing duty-not-paid cigarettes and failing to declare them to Customs Officers, as well as for importing alternative smoking products, in contravention of the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance (DCO) and the Import and Export Ordinance (IEO).
      
     Customs officers intercepted a 25-year-old incoming female passenger at Hong Kong International Airport on July 17. About 33 800 sticks of duty-not-paid cigarettes and 75 600 alternative smoking products with a total estimated market value of about $378,000 and a duty potential of about $111,000, were seized from her personal baggage. She was subsequently arrested. She was sentenced to six months' imprisonment and fined $1,000 in contravention of the DCO and was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment in contravention of the IEO today. The two sentences are to run concurrently, making for a total of eight months' imprisonment.
      
     Customs welcomes the sentence. The custodial sentence has imposed a considerable deterrent effect and reflects the seriousness of the offences.
      
     Under the DCO, tobacco products are dutiable goods to which the DCO applies. Any person who imports, deals with, possesses, sells or buys illicit cigarettes commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $1 million and imprisonment for two years.
      
     Under the IEO, a person who imports an alternative smoking product into Hong Kong commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.
      
     Members of the public may report any suspected illicit cigarette or smuggling activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002/en/).

Ends/Monday, September 15, 2025
Issued at HKT 19:05

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