Macau Customs Service (SA) officers cracked down on another parallel trading den set up in a flat in a residential building near the Barrier Gate checkpoint yesterday, where they seized about 760,000 patacas worth of Japanese whisky, cigarettes and cigars.
Ip Wa Chio, a senior customs officer, told reporters yesterday that it was the second time that the officers busted suspected parallel trading dens in residential flats within a week.
Ip made the remarks yesterday after inviting the media to witness customs officers busting the parallel trading spot.
According to Ip, a total of six local male and female residents, aged between 38 and 71, were intercepted for breaching the External Trade Law, including the male owner of the parallel trading den and the flat, who is a casino employee on unpaid leave.
Customs officers intercepted two local women yesterday morning at the Barrier Gate checkpoint, suspected of involvement in parallel trading, Ip said, adding that the officers found “parallel goods”, such as cigars and bottles of spirits in their belongings.
Under questioning, both claimed that they had picked up the goods from a flat on the fifth floor of Choi Hong Building on Estrada dos Cavaleiros, and had been promised at least 400 patacas each time for taking goods from Macau to the mainland.
At 10 a.m. yesterday, customs officers were dispatched to inspect the flat, where they intercepted the male owner, a male and two female “parallel traders” and seized 90 bottles of Japanese whisky, 8,800 cigarettes and 3,340 cigars, Ip pointed out.
Parallel traders are known as “water goods travellers” (“soi fo hak”) in Cantonese jargon.
Ip said that the Customs Service believed that the parallel trading den had been in operation for about a month.
Ip underlined that the suspects face a fine of up to 50,000 patacas each for violating the law, adding that the owner failed to show any documents declaring the import and export of the seized goods. As the shop operated without a business licence, the case has been transferred to the Financial Services Bureau (DSF), Ip noted.
Recently, Ip pointed out, the amount of suspected “parallel goods” found by the Customs Service has decreased, so it believes that “criminals” have changed their operation mode of smuggling goods across the Macau-mainland border, such as only storing a small amount of goods at parallel trading dens, so as to reduce the loss of goods confiscated by the authorities.
Two customs officers disinfect confiscated contraband worth about 760,000 patacas yesterday at a parallel trading den in Choi Hong Building on Estrada dos Cavaleiros.
– Photo: Yuki Lei
