Police stated to date this yr they’ve seized HK$730 million price of contraband items from speedboat smuggling gangs in comparison with HK$490 million in the entire of final yr.
Hong Kong has no gross sales tax, one thing that makes profitable smuggling vastly profitable.
Mainland China can be awash with faux manufacturers whereas common meals well being scares have bolstered the demand for worldwide items.
Till the crackdown sparked by the marine officer’s loss of life, smugglers usually relied on sheer power of numbers.
Every day, dozens of Chinese language mainland vessels would wait simply outdoors Hong Kong’s waters close to the town’s airport.
Speedboats filled with items, a few of them fitted with as many as six engines to outrun police, would then emerge en masse and rush to the ready mainland boats.
A few of these dramatic current smuggling runs have been captured on digicam by members of the general public utilizing telephones.
Three customs officers have been killed in January final yr when their boat capsized throughout a chase with speedboat gangs in waters off the airport.
Whereas Hong Kong has lengthy been one of many most secure cities on this planet by way of road crime, triad organised crime gangs have an extended presence within the metropolis.
The gangs hint their origins to 19th century Chinese language fraternal organisations.
Most fled to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan when the communists took energy in mainland China in 1949.
However in current a long time, most triad gangs switched ideological allegiance and embraced Beijing.
Since Hong Kong’s 1997 handover from Britain, a few of Beijing’s most ardent critics have discovered themselves on the improper finish of a triad assault.
Main gangs like Wo Shing Wo, 14Okay and Solar Yee On have a presence in each Hong Kong and the Chinese language mainland in addition to hyperlinks to worldwide organised crime.
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