Macau Customs Service (SA) officers raided three parallel-trading dens in three shops on the ground floor of Vai Un Garden on Rua da Fábrica yesterday, where three local suspects and a non-resident worker (NRW) were arrested, according to an SA statement yesterday.
According to the statement, a female suspect was spotted heading towards the Barrier Gate checkpoint yesterday, where she was found by customs officers to be carrying dried fish maw and medicines.
Under questioning, the suspect admitted to picking up the goods from a parallel trading collection point in a store on the ground floor of Vai Un Garden on Rua da Fábrica and taking them to the mainland, for which she was paid 140 yuan (155 patacas) each time, the statement said.
Afterwards, the statement said, customs officers went to the units and during the search the officers discovered two adjacent units that had been split into several rooms, two of which were found to be collection points for parallel traders.
Among the divided units, the statement said, the police found a quantity of Japanese medicines, pharmaceuticals, and silicon metal.
According to the statement, police arrested three other suspects in the divided units who were controlling the parallel traders and failed to provide proof of import licences and certificates of origin of the goods stored there.
The officers seized dried fish maw, skin care products, beauty products, medicines, used electronic parts, silicon metal and other goods estimated to be worth 600,000 patacas in the three units, the statement said.
In Chinese smuggling jargon, this kind of activity is known as “ants moving home” tactics. Parallel traders are known as “water travellers” (“soi hak”) in the jargon.
According to the statement, police believe that the three dens have been operating since September and that the amount of goods seized during the operation was small.
According to the statement, the Customs Service believes that the smugglers have changed their mode of operation and that the goods will first be sent to goods collection points and by smuggling them little by little, the damage caused by each seizure will be less.
The statement said that the three collection points were adjoining ground floor shops and their entrances were disguised by “to let” and renovation notices.
According to the statement, the Customs Service is still investigating whether the operations of the three parallel trading dens are connected.
Skin care and beauty products, medicines and other goods seized from four parallel traders are displayed by the Macau Customs Service in a shop near the Barrier Gate checkpoint yesterday. – Photo courtesy of TDM
