Customs officers arrested two men for possession of suspected illicit cigarettes in Yuen Long, in Hong Kong’s New Territories, and police arrested three people at a suspected drug den in the Tze Wan Shan area of Kowloon, on Tuesday.
Oriental Daily reports that at 9am, customs officers found 10,000 suspected illicit cigarettes in a private vehicle on Pak Sha Shan Road. A 23-year-old South Asian asylum seeker and a 53-year-old local man were found to be conveying the goods.
The duo were arrested and taken to a village house nearby, where officers seized another 44,000 suspected illicit cigarettes. The estimated market value of the seized cigarettes was given at HK$140,000 (US$17,944), while their duty potential was HK$100,000.
The officers believe the men took orders by phone before delivering the cigarettes to targeted customers in northwestern parts of the New Territories.
Meanwhile, the police anti-triad unit in Kowloon East searched a flat at Tsz On Court in Tsz Wan Shan and found 30 grams of suspected methamphetamine, HK$4,000 in cash and some packaging tools.
Officers arrested two men and a woman: a 62-year-old man of Pakistani origin, who owns the flat; his local wife, aged 58; and a 70-year-old man surnamed Cho who also lives in the flat.
It was understood that the two men have triad backgrounds.