Hong Kong – Two inbound travelers founded guilty and imprisoned for importing duty-not-paid cigarettes and alternative smoking cigarettes items (with image)

2 inbound Chinese male travelers were sentenced to in between 8 to 10 weeks’ jail time and fined $500 by the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts today (June 27) for importing duty-not-paid cigarettes, stopping working to state them to Customs officers, in addition to for importing alternative smoking cigarettes items (ASPs), in breach of the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance (DCO) and the Import and Export Ordinance (IEO).

Customs officers obstructed the 2 Chinese male guests, aged 40 and 28, at Hong Kong International Airport the other day (June 26). Customs officers took about 300 duty-not-paid cigarettes and an overall of about 21 000 ASPs with an approximated market price of about $65,000 and a task capacity of about $1,000, from their luggage. The 2 guests were consequently jailed. They were respectively sentenced to 8 weeks’ jail time and a fine of $500, and 10 weeks’ jail time today.

Custom-mades invites the sentences. The custodial sentences have actually enforced a significant deterrent result and show the severity of the offenses.

Customizeds advises members of the general public that under the DCO, cigarettes are dutiable products to which the DCO uses. Anybody who imports, handle, has, offers or purchases illegal cigarettes dedicates an offense. The optimum charge upon conviction is a fine of $2 million and jail time for 7 years.

Under the IEO, anybody who imports an alternative cigarette smoking 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 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 type (eform.cefs.gov.hk/ form/ced002).