Smuggled cockroaches, frozen domestic rats and mealworms were among a haul of pests seized at a border checkpoint in Hong Kong, with a local driver arrested, authorities said on Friday. The Customs and Excise Department said officers intercepted the 118kg (260lbs) shipment – which also contained moth larvae and fruit flies mixed with declared goods…
Iran is expected to receive within weeks a first shipment out of up to 400 Chinese-made shoulder-fired air-defense missile launchers, three sources familiar with the deal told Reuters, as it rebuilds its defenses amid war with the United States. The purchase, valued at $60-70 million, is one of Tehran’s largest-known efforts to strengthen its short-range…
Hong Kong customs officers have arrested two women at the border for allegedly smuggling animals after they were separately found with a dog worth HK$3,000 (US$380) and two endangered birds that could be sold for a total of HK$5,000. The Customs and Excise Department said on Friday that it had intercepted a 57-year-old mainland Chinese…
An aerial view of downtown Sinuiju taken from the Chinese side of the border. (Wikimedia Commons) North Korean trade workers in China are facing tighter surveillance as Pyongyang and Beijing look to expand trade following a recent summit between the two countries, a source told Daily NK on Friday. The crackdown appears aimed at heading…
Hong Kong customs officers have arrested a 39-year-old truck driver on suspicion of smuggling and seized goods worth HK$10 million (US$1.27 million), including weight-loss injections and fish maw. The Customs and Excise Department said on Wednesday that a medium goods vehicle was intercepted at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge crossing on June 4. The vehicle, bound…
Hong Kong customs has seized about 20 million illicit cigarettes with an estimated market value of HK$92 million (US$11.46 million) from a cargo vessel during a joint anti-smuggling operation with authorities in mainland China. The cigarettes would have generated about HK$68 million in tax revenue, authorities said on Saturday. Officers from the Customs and Excise…
Operators of illicit fuel stations can earn as much as HK$10,000 (US$1,280) a day by smuggling untaxed petrol into Hong Kong using vehicles equipped with enlarged tanks and selling it to car club members via coded messages, the South China Morning Post has learned. A source said there had been more cases involving illicit fuel…
Hong Kong customs officers have discovered HK$230 million (US$29.4 million) worth of gold and silver hidden in two air cargo shipments of household cleaning machines destined for Japan, making the largest seizure of precious metals on record. Senior Investigator Ho Ting-chun of the Customs and Excise Department’s syndicate crimes investigation bureau said on Thursday officers…
Hong Kong authorities recorded a 36 per cent increase in illicit cigarette busts last year, seizing HK$2.7 billion (US$345.4 million) worth of goods, as the customs chief warned of a new tactic of children being used to smuggle tobacco across the border. At a press conference on Thursday to review its work in 2025, the…