自從新冠病毒疫情爆發以來，香港走私到內地出現了一種新的跨境犯罪模式。 由於疫情令跨境人流大減，個人以「螞蟻帶貨」方式進行走私變得相對困難。不過，通過陸路和水路大規模走私奢侈品和各種貨品，卻比以往任何時候都更加猖獗。
走私者科技反監視警方
6月10日，香港海關宣布，6月2日至7日在流浮山偵破了一宗大型走私案，4人涉嫌走私名牌手袋、手錶、貴價食材和受管制瀕危物種被捕， 總額達 1.2 億港元。 被捕的4名港人年齡介乎35至62歲， 其中1人是走私集團的核心成員。
根據海關的說法，走私者改變了策略，從世界各地搜集珍貴的產品，利用大量快艇來進行非法的走私活動。 3月初至5月下旬，海關共偵破3宗走私案件，金額分別為200萬港元、300萬港元和400萬港元，相當於2020年全年查獲走私貨物的70%。涉案貨品在內地要徵收 100% 至 160% 的關稅，用走私的方式逃稅可高達 1.2 億港元。
涉案分子用上了不常見但重要的策略，他們使用兩架無人機來監視海關與警方；快艇也被用作巡邏艇來監視海關船隻和水警，讓當局難以偵破走私活動。
另一方面，走私集團的倉庫安裝了24小時攝像機，以防海關和警方突襲他們的巢穴。 這些倉庫受到嚴密保護，涉案分子和他們的同夥睡在那裏，並監視外面可疑的人。 走私集團所用的策略明顯變得比以往任何時候都更加複雜和嚴密，尤其是在走私貨物數量異常龐大的情況之下。
中港合作偵破多宗案件
涉案分子的另一個新策略，是將所有走私貨物分類並放入各種編號的箱子中，以加快將貨物快速發送到內地收貨人的過程。 6月2日至7日破獲的這起走私案件，至少安排了5至6名內地方面的接頭人。
由於香港海關加強與內地執法機關合作，多宗走私案件得以偵破。 3月至4月，內地執法機關共抓獲11人，涉嫌走私2.4噸穿山甲，特別是價值5000萬元人民幣的穿山甲鱗片。
2021 年 4 月，香港海關偵破一個走私集團，該集團走私了 300 塊顯示卡，尤其是用於加密貨幣挖礦的顯示卡。 涉案分子在香港國際機場對開海面，用一艘漁船將一箱箱顯示卡轉運到一艘快艇上。 海關查獲的其他走私貨物包括海參、魚翅等高價食品。
今年以來，香港與內地邊境的走私活動時有所聞。
6月3日，海關在沙頭角管制站檢獲一批懷疑走私珠寶，包括約1300粒鑽石、十粒藍寶石、1粒翡翠和約30克碎鑽，估計市值共約2500萬元。以案中檢獲鑽石的市值計算，這是有紀錄以來海關破獲的最大宗走私鑽石案件。從香港特區向內地走私鑽石已變得司空見慣，因為走私者可以避免繳付大額關稅。
6月9日，海關在香港國際機場檢獲1.4噸估計市值124萬港元的瀕危物種乾製大壁虎。這是自今年4月30日大壁虎被納入《保護瀕危動植物物種條例》附錄後，海關首次檢獲懷疑非法進口的乾製大壁虎。
很多例子都表明，最近通過陸路和海上的走私活動規模更大，價值更高，並且愈來愈多以利用快艇、倉庫甚至無人機的複雜走私集團為特徵。所有這些走私產品的目的地顯然是中國內地，內地對高價食物、奢侈品、瀕危物種的需求持續存在。正值全球許多地方都仍在苦苦對抗新冠病毒之時，這種新的跨境走私模式似乎無法避免，但也說明利潤厚、風險高的跨境走私活動有很高的適應力。
A New Pattern of Cross-Border Crime: Smuggling of Luxurious Goods between Hong Kong and Mainland
Since the outbreak of Covid-19, a new pattern of cross-border crime has been emerging between the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and mainland China. As “Covid-19 has been minimizing the cross-border human traffic, individual smuggling in the form of “ants carrying out smuggled goods” has become relatively difficult. However, massive and large-scale smuggling of luxurious goods and products through both the land and sea route has become far more prominent than ever before.
According to a press briefing on June 10, the Hong Kong custom and excise department from June 2 to 7 cracked down on a large-scale smuggling case in Lau Fau Shan, where four people were arrested for being involved in the smuggling of prestigious handbags, watches, precious food products and endangered species, which amounted to HK$120 million. Of the four arrested Hong Kong people, they aged between 35 and 62 years old. One of them was a core member of the smuggling syndicate, while the other three were responsible for supervision work in storage and transportation. About 66,000 items of goods were confiscated by the custom authorities, including bird nests, sea cucumbers, and shark fins. Furthermore, about 186 kilograms of endangered species, such as devilfish and cactus. It is reported that parts of devilfish can be used to deal with rheumatism, cancer and female-related diseases in the mainland and that each catty of devilfish is fetched up to HK$2,700.
According to the Hong Kong customs, smugglers changed their tactics by firstly collecting all the precious products from all parts of the world, utilizing powerful speedboats to engage in smuggling activities within a short period of time, and mobilizing a large number of speedboats to achieve their illicit and profit-making activities. From early March to late May, the customs department had uncovered three smuggling cases that amounted to HK$2,000,000, HK$3,000,000 and HK$4,000,000 – a total amount equivalent to 70 percent of the captured smuggling goods in the entire year of 2020. Because all these captured smuggling products incurred a tax levy of 100 percent to 160 percent in the mainland, these smuggled goods could have evaded HK$120 million.
An interesting but a significant tactic used by smugglers was that they used two drones to detect the presence and pursuit of customs and police authorities. Speedboats were also utilized as patrol boats to detect customs boats and marine police. Combined with the detection work of smugglers on land, the use of drones and speedboats as additional “defensive” line had already made it difficult for Hong Kong customs to detect smuggling activities.
On the other hand, the warehouse of smuggling syndicates was installed with 24-hour video cameras to detect whether customs and police might raid their premises. Their warehouse was protected by tight security in which smugglers and their accomplices slept there and detected suspicious persons outside. Clearly, the tactics used by smuggling syndicates became far more sophisticated and much tighter than ever before, especially as the amount of smuggling goods was extraordinarily large.
Another new tactic used by smugglers was that they had classified all the smuggled goods well and put them into various numbered boxes to speed up the process of sending the goods rapidly to the mainland receivers. At least five to six receivers from the mainland side were arranged in the smuggling case that was cracked down from June 2 to 7.
Thanks to the cooperation between the Hong Kong customs department and its mainland counterpart, many cases of smuggling were cracked down effectively. The mainland customs authorities also cracked down on many cases of smuggling in Guangdong, Guangxi and Anhui, where smugglers used warehouses to hide their smuggled goods. From March to April, the mainland customs arrested eleven people who were involved in the smuggling of 2.4 tons of Manidae, specifically pangolin scales which costs Renminbi 50 million.
Pangolin scales have been used in the mainland for stimulating blood circulation of patients. In August 2018, the Hong Kong customs arrested a 38-year-old man at the airport for smuggling a consignment of pangolin scales and he was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment in April 2021, for he violated the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance.
In April 2021, the Hong Kong customs busted a smuggling syndicate that smuggled 300 graphics cards, specifically Nvidia’s Cryptocurrency Mining Processor (CMP). The syndicate used a fishing boat to transfer boxes of cards to a speedboat early in the morning outside the Hong Kong international airport. Other smuggled goods captured by the customs included exotic food like sea cucumbers and shark fins.
Smuggling activities across the border of Hong Kong and the mainland have been commonplace since 2020.
In December 2020, contraband products of HK$540 million were seized by the Hong Kong customs in Hong Kong waters, including iPhones, bird nests and abalone that were attempted to be smuggled from the HKSAR to Shenzhen by speedboat.
On June 4, the Hong Kong customs captured a batch of suspected smuggled diamonds and other jewels with an estimated market value of HK$25 million. The jewel embraced 1,300 diamonds, 10 sapphires, one emerald, and 30 grams of point-size diamonds which were all stored in a light good vehicle at Sha Tau Kok control point. The smuggling of diamonds from the HKSAR to the mainland has become commonplace because smugglers could evade customs duty of 4 percent, especially as China remains a hub of manufacturing diamond-studded jewellery.
As early as January 2010, 22 Indian diamond merchants from Gujarati were held by the mainland Chinese customs authorities for allegedly smuggling polished diamonds worth US$7.3 million. Nine of them were sentences for six months to six years. Hence, the smuggling of diamonds took place long before the outbreak of Covid-19.
In September 2020, according to the Indian Express, a Gujarati diamond merchant in Hong Kong was questioned by the Hong Kong customs, while two local Chinese were arrested by the mainland Chinese customs for allegedly smuggling 150 packets of polished diamond from Hong Kong to the mainland through courier services.
Many Indian diamond merchants who have manufacturing units in Surat have trade offices in Hong Kong. Very often, diamond trading firms in Hong Kong, many of them run by Indians with local Chinese as staff members, use courier services to send parcels of diamonds to Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou in the mainland. If cross-border trade involves some Indian merchants, the use of courier to send diamonds from Hong Kong to the mainland could be regarded by mainland customs as allegedly engaging in cross-border crime.
In April 2021, twenty people were arrested by police in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou for allegedly smuggling diamonds of Renminbi 40 million. The mainland customs said that the smuggling syndicate had been not only buying diamonds from an overseas website since July 2020 but also delivering them to Hong Kong and then smuggling them into China without proper declaration or paying the required tax.
In the same month of April, the Hong Kong police seized 700 kilogram of cocaine and arrested three men, believing that the drugs were imported from South America and would be transported from Hong Kong to the mainland through speedboats. The cocaine bricks were carefully wrapped in plastic and a lot of waterproof bags were found in an industrial building.
On May 29, the Hong Kong customs captured two air consignments arrived at Hong Kong’s international airport from Mexico and found HK$2.2 million of shark fins.
On June 7, the customs seized 3.3 tons of dried shark fins with an estimated value of HK$4.6 million from a container at the Kwai Chung Customhouse Cargo Examination Compound.
On June 9, the customs seized 1.4 tons of suspected scheduled dried Gekko gecko, an endangered species with a market value of HK1.24 million at the international airport. Two air consignments were confiscated as they claimed to carry pet food from Indonesia, but there were 59 carton boxes of dried Gekko gecko.
All the recent examples above have shown that smuggling activities via land and sea have been much more large-scale, far more luxurious, and increasingly characterized by sophisticated smuggling syndicates that utilized speedboats, warehouse and even drones. Clearly, the destination of all these smuggled products is mainland China, where the demand for such precious food, luxurious products, endangered species persist. At a time when Covid-19 remains an uphill battle in many parts of the world, including the Greater China region embracing Hong Kong and the mainland, this new pattern of cross-border smuggling is natural, inevitable but illustrative of the highly lucrative, risky and adaptative nature of transnational crime.
原刊於澳門新聞通訊社（MNA）網站，本社獲作者授權轉載。
