3-12-2020
Hong Kong Customs seized 162 pieces of suspected smuggled diamonds worth an estimated US$840,000 at Heung Yuen Wai Control Point. This is the largest diamond smuggling case detected in the past three years.
The diamonds were found inside a pocket of the trousers worn by a 33-year-old cross-border truck driver entering Shenzhen from Hong Kong. Customs officers later arrested a man also aged 33 suspected to be connected with the case at a public rental housing unit in Sham Shui Po.
The source said he believed the diamonds were on the way to factories in the mainland, where they would be turned into jewellery for sale. The mandatory 14-day quarantine and closure of major border checkpoints has kept mainland tourists visiting Hong Kong. “But there is a high demand for luxury items such as diamonds and precious metal in mainland China and this creates a market for cross-border smugglers,” he said.
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