In a joint operation conducted with Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) today (March 27), Customs officers of Lok Ma Chau Control Point seized from an arriving private car 732 kg smuggled pork, worth about $30,000.
At 7.45am, Customs officers intercepted a suspicious private car and seized from it the smuggled meat.
They arrested a 42-year-old Hong Kong male driver. The man was charged under the Import and Export Ordinance and Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance. He will appear in Fanling Magistrates' Courts for mention on April 20.
The seizure was handed over to FEHD for follow-up action.
A Customs spokesman today reminded members of the public to obtain a certificate from the official authority of exporting country before importing meat into Hong Kong.
Under the Import and Export Ordinance, any person found guilty of "importing unmanifested cargo" is liable on conviction to a fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.
Under the Imported Game, Meat and Poultry Regulations of the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance, it is an offence to bring into Hong Kong any meat and poultry without an official certificate. The maximum penalty is a fine of $50,000 and six months' imprisonment.
End/Tuesday, March 27, 2007
