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30,000 BOTTLES OF PENFOLDS AMONG HKD300M SMUGGLED GOODS BUSTED IN HONG KONG

By Susan Lewis

7-11-2022



Source: Hong Kong Customs

Some 30,000 bottles of Penfolds wines were among 50 tonnes of smuggled goods busted by Hong Kong customs, in the city’s largest smuggling case this year with a market value of over HKD300 million (USD38.22m).

Reports said some Australian wines entered China through back doors from ports like Hong Kong after China levied punishing tariffs on Australian wines, this latest bust proved these reports maybe true.

China slapped an average 200 percent punitive tariffs on Australian wines, the rate for Penfolds brand’s parent company Treasury Wine Estate is 175.6 percent.

Hong Kong customs officials said in a press conference that the smuggling case was detected on 26 October.

They said the smuggled goods, declared as acrylic sheets to evade customs duties, were about to be shipped to Tianjin port in northern China.


Source: Hong Kong Customs

Custom officers found the 10 containers of declared acrylic sheets very suspicious since China is a major producer of acrylic sheets itself. They then put the containers under x-ray examination and saw suspicious images.

The haul of goods included some 50 tonnes of dried seafood, 30,000 bottles of wines, and a large number of electronic and cosmetics products, with a total estimated market value of HKD300m, making it the most valuable bust this year.

Among the smuggled dried seafood were 6 tonnes of shark fins worth about HKD45m, customs officers also found 1.6 tonnes of dried geckos worth HKD1.3m and 750 kilograms of rare timbers worth HKD1.6m.

Hong Kong customs believed that the smuggling gang is after the demand for these goods ahead of Chinese New Year which will fall in January next year.

A 48-year-old man and a 53-year-old woman from a logistics company were arrested on 28 October, they are being detained for further investigation.

(the writer can be contacted at: info@thewinechronicle.com)

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