The Customs & Excise Department will boost its capacity to combat rising online intellectual property crime by further developing the Big Data System introduced in December.

Delivering the department’s year-end review today, Commissioner of Customs & Excise Hermes Tang said more than 900 cases of intellectual property infringement were detected last year, with $118 million-worth of infringing items seized.

He said: “Given the rapid development of Internet platforms and e-commerce, we have developed the new Big Data Analytic System to perform automatic cross-platform cyber patrol, information diagnosis and extractions.

“Some of the major features of the Big Data Analytic System include operating around the clock to monitor multi-online platforms. And we will also gather and compare huge amounts of infringement information on the Internet. And the system will also be able to detect both trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy offences.”

Mr Tang also briefed the media on the review of law enforcement and trade facilitation work by the department last year.

The department handled more than 16,000 cases last year, on par with 2016.

Smuggling cases rose 23% to 213, with about 82% of them involving activities between Hong Kong and the Mainland.

Most of the cases concerned the smuggling of electrical and electronic goods.

The department also made a record seizure of 7,000kg of ivory tusks, valued at $70 million.

The haul was the biggest seizure of its type in the world.