3 arrested over links to money laundering, untaxed cigarettes syndicate
Months-long operation leads to discovery of 2.2 million untaxed cigarettes and HK$11.3 million in alleged criminal proceeds
Hong Kong customs officers have arrested three people in a months-long operation against a money laundering and illicit goods syndicate that led to the discovery of about 2.2 million untaxed cigarettes and HK$11.3 million (US$1.4 million) in alleged criminal proceeds.
The department said an investigation was opened after officers arrested the 37-year-old warehouse worker in January for the first time after raiding a storage facility in Ngau Tam Mei in the New Territories, seizing about 2.2 million illicit cigarettes worth HK$9.9 million.
“The warehouse location was remote, and it had another warehouse inside to evade investigations ... We also found a record booklet of the illicit cigarette activities,” said Senior Investigator Matthew Shum from the department’s revenue crimes investigation bureau.
He added that the document detailed the brand, storage dates and the number of illicit cigarettes.
A subsequent financial investigation found that the suspect had used his own bank accounts, as well as those of his girlfriend, the 35-year-old suspect, to receive payments from individual customers for illicit cigarettes.
