29th October 2026 – (Hong Kong) Customs officers yesterday smashed three suspected illicit cigarette warehouses in a single Fo Tan industrial building, seizing about 1.2 million suspected illicit cigarettes and about 700,000 suspected alternative smoking products worth some HK$8 million.
The dutiable value of the haul is put at about HK$4 million. Three men aged 29 to 37 were arrested. One has been charged; the other two remain in custody pending inquiries. Investigation Officer Choi Cheuk-fun of Revenue Investigation Group 2 in the Revenue Crimes Investigation Bureau said officers were mounting an anti-illicit cigarette operation among Fo Tan factory blocks yesterday afternoon when they spotted a man leaving a unit with a nylon bag in a suspicious manner.
They stopped him and found 8,000 suspected illicit cigarettes in the bag, then arrested him. Taken back to the unit for a search, officers recovered about a further 280,000 suspected illicit cigarettes inside. Continuing on the same floor of the same building, they identified another unit also believed to be used for storage. Two men leaving that premises were intercepted; one tried to flee and resisted before being subdued. Inside, officers seized about 600,000 suspected illicit cigarettes and 340,000 suspected alternative smoking products.
Checks on one detainee’s personal effects pointed to a third unit in the same industrial building linked to illicit tobacco. A search there the same day yielded about 340,000 more suspected illicit cigarettes and 350,000 suspected alternative smoking products. Preliminary inquiries suggest the syndicate deliberately rented several units under one roof to spread risk and limit losses if any single store was hit. Customs believes the raids have dismantled an active storage and distribution hub serving the Sha Tin area.
Buying and selling illicit cigarettes are both offences, the department stressed. Under the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance, anyone who deals in, possesses, sells or buys illicit cigarettes commits an offence punishable on conviction by a fine of up to HK$2 million and seven years’ imprisonment. Customs said it would keep using intelligence-led enforcement and district patrols against the trade.