Customs officers have arrested five men and three women for allegedly evading about $1 million in import duties by using forged documents to under-declare wine prices.

On August 9 more than 700 bottles of wine imported from France and the UK were seized at Hong Kong International Airport on suspicion of under-declaration of the wine price. The total wine value was about $2.3 million with the estimated duty evaded amounting to $300,000.

Officers later raided the import company's Cheung Sha Wan office and warehouse seizing documents, suspected forged invoices with a lower price, documents with the real price, related remittance and payment records, 18 computers and a server.

The arrestees, aged 23 to 50, are three directors, two purchasing clerks, two shipping clerks and one accounts clerk from the company. They have been released on bail.

The company is believed to have under-declared wine prices in permit applications to the department by using forged documents. Initial investigations found that the total duty evaded in the last 12 months was about $1 million.

The department said it has a robust valuation mechanism for guarding against under-declaration of liquor prices. In the past three years it has successfully recovered $7 million in duty from liquor importers for under-declaration of prices.

Evading duty is a serious offence warranting a $1-million fine and two years in jail. For cases of intentional evasion a magistrate can also impose a fine up to 10 times the amount of duty payable. To report suspected revenue fraud call 2545 6182.