The Macau Customs Service (SA), in conjunction with their counterparts in the mainland, busted a vessel early yesterday morning attempting to smuggle 25 boxes of seafood weighing 530 kilograms from Macau to the mainland. The contraband was valued at about 160,000 patacas.
In the operation, Macau customs officers arrested four male smugglers aged between 27 and 61 from the mainland, comprising the owner of the vessel, two crew members and a male non-resident worker (NRW) employed by a local food company, for breaching the External Trade Law.
Senior customs officer Lam Kin Kuan announced the case to the local media yesterday at the SA Maritime Inspection Building in Ilha Verde.
Upon receiving intelligence on Monday that some people would attempt to smuggle undeclared seafood from the Inner Harbour Pier 28 to the mainland, Lam said, Macau customs officers were dispatched to the scene to investigate, during which 25 boxes of suspicious items were found near the pier, so that the Macau Customs Services set up surveillance on the pier’s shoreline and nearby coastal waters.
A mainland fishing boat berthed at the pier at about 4 a.m. yesterday, when according to Lam, a crew member together with a man at the waterfront, who had awaited the vessel’s arrival, unloaded a quantity of seafood, which had been declared for import into Macau, from the boat and, at the same time, carried the 25 boxes on board the vessel. After the two had finished moving the seafood, he added, the vessel left the pier. Customs patrol vessels on alert nearby intercepted the boat and ordered it to proceed to Ponte 16, where it was boarded by customs officers and taken back to Pier 28 for investigation.
Lam noted that the 25 boxes of undeclared seafood in the hold of the vessel included salmon and lobster, among other seafood, weighing a total of 530 kilograms and valued at about 160,000 patacas.
Contraband seafood seized by the Macau Customs Service (SA) officers yesterday is displayed during a press briefing at its Maritime Inspection Building in Ilha Verde.
Senior customs officer Lam Kin Kuan (left) and an unidentified colleague speak to the media about the case yesterday. – Photos: MPDG
