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Tag: illegal cigarettes

  • Hong Kong Crackdown Nets $72 Million in Illegal Smokes

    Hong Kong Crackdown Nets $72 Million in Illegal Smokes

    Credit: Timothy S. Donahue

    Hong Kong customs officers seized untaxed cigarettes worth HK563 million ($72.1 million) during a nearly three-month illegal trade crackdown, coinciding with a tobacco tax increase in February.

    Assistant Commissioner Barry Lai Chi-wing said officers clamped down on the post-pandemic trend of smuggling the contraband into the city in small portions from February 19 to May 14 in an operation code-named “Tempest.”

    Part of the operation also took place after Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po announced in this year’s budget that the tobacco tax would be raised by 80 HK cents per stick with immediate effect, according to media reports.

    The increase raised the average cost of a pack of 20 cigarettes by HK$16 to more than HK$90. A pack costs HK$19 to HK$38 on the black market.

    During the operation, 4,347 people, aged 15 to 89, were arrested. Officers confiscated 139 million sticks of suspected illicit cigarettes, 105kg of cigars, and around 1,525kg of manufactured tobacco products, which had a market value of HK625 million. The tax take would have been about HK454 million.

  • Hong Kong Seizes $26.6 Million in Illegal Cigs

    Hong Kong Seizes $26.6 Million in Illegal Cigs

    Credit: Timothy Donahue

    Customs officers in Hong Kong seized illegal cigarettes worth more than HK$208 million ($26.6 million) in the first 15 days after a tobacco tax increase came into force as part of last month’s budget.

    Superintendent Jeff Lau Leung-chi of the Customs Revenue Crimes Investigation Bureau said on Monday that if the tobacco had been legally imported, the contraband products would have generated about HK$147 million in tax.

    Lau attributed the increase in cigarette seizures to enhanced enforcement action at all levels to combat the trade in illegal tobacco products and the operation’s longer duration in the second phase, according to media reports.

    “We also believe that crime syndicates anticipated the possibility of an increase in tobacco tax, so they stockpiled a larger quantity of illicit cigarettes ahead of time to supply the market after the tax hike,” he said.

    The untaxed cigarettes were discovered over the second phase of a citywide operation code-named “Tempest”, which involved the arrest of 776 people between February 29 and March 14.

    During the first round of the operation, which took place between February 19 and 28, Customs detained 538 people and seized HK$62 million worth of illegal tobacco products in 10 days.

  • Hong Kong Seizures Hit $288 Million in 2023

    Hong Kong Seizures Hit $288 Million in 2023

    Credit: Alven 0920

    Customs officers in Hong Kong reported that the agency had impounded more than 650 million black market cigarettes worth HK$2.25 billion ($287.8 million) last year, the largest annual cash value in more than two decades, according to media reports.

    The seized cigarettes would have generated about HK$1.54 billion in tax revenue, also a record, over the same period, according to an undisclosed source.

    Last week, authorities in Hong Kong said they were considering a further increase in tobacco duty.

    Last year’s total number of cigarettes seized was lower than the 732 million impounded in 2022, although the value was higher. Last year’s record seizure coincided with a 31 percent tobacco tax increase in February, which raised the average cost of a pack of 20 cigarettes by HK$12 to more than HK$70.

    A pack on the black market costs HK$18 to HK$38.

    The source said the confiscated tobacco products were stored in government warehouses currently, pending court proceedings or further investigations before being destroyed and buried at landfill sites.

    He added customs officials would boost efforts to combat crime syndicates that tried to take advantage of busy logistics services in the run-up to the Lunar New Year to smuggle cigarettes into the city.