24th September 2026 – (Hong Kong) A local woman has been sentenced by the District Court to 63 months’ imprisonment for illegally exporting and possessing controlled pharmaceutical products — some of them counterfeit — and for dealing with property known or believed to represent the proceeds of an indictable offence. The convictions were secured under the Import and Export Ordinance, the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance and the Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance.
Hong Kong Customs said that between September and October 2021 officers seized about 1.6 million tablets of controlled pharmaceutical products at Hong Kong International Airport, an industrial unit in Hung Hom and a logistics service centre in Sheung Wan, with an estimated market value of about HK$55 million. Investigators found the woman had rented the Hung Hom unit, recruited people to pack and post the consignments, and orchestrated the shipping of the products.
Enquiries further revealed she channelled bank transfers and cash deposits from unidentifiable sources through her personal accounts, laundering a total of HK$15 million. Those accounts were also used to pay packing staff, couriers and postage fees in support of the syndicate’s operations. Prosecutors have additionally applied under the Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance for a Confiscation Order over the woman’s frozen assets amounting to roughly HK$470,000.
Customs welcomed the sentence, describing it as a strong deterrent that underscores the seriousness of exporting controlled pharmaceuticals, trading in counterfeit goods and money laundering. The authority reiterated the penalties in force: under the Import and Export Ordinance, exporting pharmaceutical products and medicines without a valid licence carries a maximum penalty of a HK$500,000 fine and two years’ imprisonment; under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, unlawful possession of a Part 1 poison is punishable by a HK$100,000 fine and two years’ imprisonment; under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, importing, exporting, selling or possessing for sale counterfeit goods is punishable by a HK$500,000 fine and five years’ imprisonment; and under the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance, dealing with property believed to represent criminal proceeds is punishable by a HK$5 million fine and up to 14 years’ imprisonment, with the proceeds liable to confiscation.
