Hong Kong customs seizes gold worth HK$13 million hidden in Japan-bound machine shipment
- Precious metal found hidden in transformers of 32 LCD screen separators, acting senior inspector says
Customs officers have confiscated gold worth HK$13 million (US$1.7 million) disguised as machine parts in a Japan-bound consignment at Hong Kong’s airport, the second similar smuggling case in less than four months.
Acting Senior Inspector Felix Chow Chun-hung of customs’ syndicate crimes investigation bureau said on Thursday the haul was hidden in the transformers of 32 LCD screen separators loaded inside eight cardboard boxes.
Chow said investigations suggested the smuggling operation was designed to evade import tariffs of about 10 per cent in Japan.
He said the case showed criminals went to great lengths to conceal the precious metal in the machines to evade detection, stressing that customs would spare no efforts to combat smuggling activities.
“The seized precious metal is estimated to be worth about HK$13 million,” he said. “Smugglers could have evaded about HK$1.3 million in tariffs if the gold had been successfully smuggled into Japan.”
The consignment destined for Tokyo was selected for inspection at the airport’s cargo terminal in the early hours of July 3, according to the Customs and Excise Department.
Chow said officers decided to inspect the consignment because the high cost of air delivery for such machines aroused their suspicion.
“The machines are worth less than HK$200 each, but the delivery of the shipment by air cost about half of the combined value of the 32 machines,” he said.
Customs officers removed the machine casing for further inspection after an X-ray examination revealed suspicious images.
Inspector Lam Ka-yan of customs’ air cargo division said the images led officers to check the machine’s transformers which consisted of more than 30 E-shaped metal plates each.
“The metal plates from one transformer have varying widths. The weight of a thicker metal plate is five times higher than the other,” she said. The suspected metal plate weighed 46.5 grams (1.6oz) while a genuine one was about 8.5 grams.
“After scraping off the coating on the [thicker and heavier] metal plates, officers discovered they were gold.”
Lam said a combined weight of 21.7kg (47.8lbs) of gold was confiscated in the air consignment and the haul was worth HK$13 million.
No arrests have been made so far.
Chow said an investigation into the origin and final destination of the haul was still under way.
On March 27, customs seized gold worth HK$84 million disguised as machine parts in two air compressors from a Japan-bound consignment at the city’s airport, the biggest smuggling bust of the precious metal in terms of value in the agency’s 115-year history. The director of a local company was arrested.
On February 22, officers arrested a Macau resident and seized gold bars worth HK$10 million hidden inside his car before he left Hong Kong via the world’s longest sea-crossing – the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.
On January 8, customs seized the same amount of gold bars hidden in a secret compartment under the centre console next to the driver’s seat of a vehicle. Its 32-year-old driver, also a Macau ID card holder, was arrested.
In Hong Kong, importing or exporting unmanifested cargo is punishable by up to seven years in jail and a HK$2 million fine under the Import and Export Ordinance.
