3 inbound guests founded guilty and imprisoned for importing or having duty-not-paid cigarettes and importing alternative cigarette smoking items (with pictures)
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3 inbound male travelers were sentenced to 3 to 7 months’ jail time and fined in between $1,000 and $2,000 at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts the other day (July 30) and today (July 31) for importing or having duty-not-paid cigarettes and stopping working to state them to Customs officers, along with for importing alternative cigarette smoking items, in breach of the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance (DCO) and the Import and Export Ordinance (IEO).
Customs officers obstructed the 3 inbound male travelers, aged in between 30 and 46, at Hong Kong International Airport on May 19 and July 23. An overall of about 80 000 duty-not-paid cigarettes and about 24 000 alternative cigarette smoking items, with an approximated market price of about $425,000 and a task capacity of about $264,000, were taken from their individual luggage. They were consequently apprehended.
Custom-mades invites the sentence. The custodial sentence has actually enforced a substantial deterrent result and shows the severity of the offenses.
Under the DCO, tobacco items are dutiable products to which the DCO uses. Anyone who imports, handle, has, offers or purchases illegal cigarettes devotes an offense. The optimum charge upon conviction is a fine of $1 million and jail time for 2 years.
Under the IEO, anyone who imports an alternative smoking cigarettes item into Hong Kong dedicates an offense. The optimum charge upon conviction is a fine of $2 million and jail time for 7 years.
Members of the general public might report any thought illegal cigarette activities to Customs’ 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its devoted crime-reporting e-mail account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online kind (eform.cefs.gov.hk/ form/ced002).