More than$ 10 million worth of gold was discovered being allegedly smuggled out of Hong Kong International Airport as parts for two air compressors, according to customs officials.
According to the Customs and Excise Department ( C&, ED), officers were informed that something was wrong when the air compressors appeared suspicious after passing through an X-ray machine.
The arrest was touted as one of the largest in the company’s 115- time past.
When the officials went to examine it, they discovered the devices were absurd, with the blade being taped in place, according to C&’s ED Assistant Superintendent Ho Tin- hong.
We removed the wheel and discovered traces of adhesive on both ends, according to Tin- ho.
” We tapped the blade gently with a nail and noticed fuzziness, suggesting the material was fairly fragile”, he added. ” Scraping off the color revealed a gold- pink area”.
As the soldiers tore apart the machines, they found some big components— including the engine wheel, gears and lock shafts, were all made of gold.
All in all, the conventions soldiers stripped more than 321 pounds of gold from the two devices, which they alleged were “molded and camouflaged” to try and get through customs.
According to C&, ED officials, the machines were being shipped to Japan on March 27 in an effort to avoid a 10 % import tariff that would have cost the suspect more than$ 1 million.
During a follow up research, C&, ED officers arrested a 31- yr- aged man last Wednesday in connection to the case.
According to C&, ED Acting Senior Superintendent Jason Lau Yuk-lung, the believe was the chairman of a business that “had no true business” and was most likely a barrel business.
The customs agency charges anyone who is found guilty of trying to export manifested cargo to Hong Kong with a sentence of up to seven years in prison and a fine of more than$ 255,000.
