Inbound traveler founded guilty and imprisoned for importing duty-not-paid cigarettes (with picture)
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An inbound guest was sentenced to 6 months’ jail time and fined $3,000 by the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts today (May 15) for importing duty-not-paid cigarettes and stopping working to state them to Customs officers, in conflict of the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance (DCO).
Customs officers obstructed an inbound male traveler, aged 34, at Hong Kong International Airport the other day (May 14) and took 50 190 duty-not-paid cigarettes, with an approximated market price of about $205,800 and a task capacity of about $165,900, from his individual luggage. The guest was consequently apprehended.
Customizeds invites the sentence. The custodial sentence has actually enforced a substantial deterrent impact and shows the severity of the offenses.
Custom-mades advises members of the general public that under the DCO, cigarettes 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 $2 million and jail time for 7 years.
Members of the general public might report any presumed 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).