Macau Customs Service (SA) officers raided two parallel-trading dens in two units on the second floor of Lee Cheung Industrial Building on Estrada Marginal do Hipódromo yesterday.
Customs officer Ip Wa Chio told reporters that the officers intercepted two male non-resident workers (NRWs) from the mainland yesterday morning at the Barrier Gate checkpoint, suspected of involvement in parallel trading and on whom customs officers found a batch of dried fish maw and a number of invoices.
Ip made the remarks after inviting the media to witness customs officers busting the parallel-trading dens in the industrial building.
Parallel traders are known as “water goods travellers” in Cantonese jargon.
Under questioning, both confessed that they had received the goods from the parallel-trading dens and took them from Macau to the mainland to earn some extra money, so customs officers were immediately dispatched to inspect the units, where they arrested a local woman and a local man in their respective parallel-trading dens on the same floor, Ip said, adding that during the operation, several boxes of dried fish maw and dried horse intestines worth a total of about 53,000 patacas were seized.
According to Ip, the two parallel-trading dens commenced operation in September and this month respectively. Ip added that both failed to show any documents declaring the import and export of the seized goods.
Ip pointed out that recently only a small amount of goods was seized at parallel-trading dens, adding the Customs Service believes that in addition to the business model of dispersing risks and reducing losses, the phenomenon is also related to a decrease in the flow of people travelling between Macau and the mainland due to Zhuhai’s pandemic-related travel restrictions, which – generally speaking – allow travellers to commute between Macau and Zhuhai via certain checkpoints only once a day, resulting in a decrease in parallel-trading activities.
Confiscated contraband worth around 53,000 patacas is displayed yesterday at a parallel-trading den in Lee Cheung Industrial Building on Estrada Marginal do Hipódromo. – Photo courtesy of TDM
