Hong Kong customs uncovers gold bars worth US$5.9mil in Japan-bound shipment

HONG KONG: Hong Kong customs have uncovered the largest gold bullion-smuggling case ever recorded by the department, after officers found HK$46 million (US$5.9 million) worth of the precious metal in an air cargo shipment bound for Japan.

Officers from the Customs and Excise Department’s air cargo division made the discovery when they acted on a risk assessment and intelligence analysis last Wednesday and searched a shipment intended for Japan.

Inspector Daniel Chan Wing-yin of the division said on Tuesday (March 11) that the consignment was declared to contain toys, hats, among other items, with the shipment consisting of 124 packages.

“During an analysis of the X-ray images, officers noticed that four packages displayed unusually high densities, inconsistent with the declared contents,” he said.

Officers also found that each of the suspicious packages weighed 17kg (37.5lbs), exceeding their declared individual weights of 1.1kg.

Further inspection of the packages showed they each contained large cardboard boxes and two small ones. – South China Morning Post