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Customs officers cracked a sea smuggling case involving $3.68 million worth of VCDs on Tuesday, the largest seizure of smuggled VCDs by means of a fishing vessel so far this year. They have arrested four Mainland crewmen, aged 18 to 43.
While patrolling by speedboat around midnight on Tuesday, Customs officers intercepted a suspicious local fishing vessel heading out of Hong Kong in the waters off Tat Hong Point towards the Mainland.
In a suspected altered compartment in the vessel's engine room, officers found 184,000 unmanifested VCDs.
As a result, four Mainland crewmen were arrested.
They have just been charged and will appear in the Eastern Magistrates' Courts today.
Under the Import & Export Ordinance, the maximum penalty for attempting to export unmanifested cargo is a $2-million fine and seven years in jail.
Making use of an altered structure of any vessel for smuggling is subject to the same maximum penalty.
Vessels involved will be confiscated after conviction.
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