Customs arrested 6 people after illicit cigarette factory bust

The Customs and Excise Department busted an illicit cigarette factory in Fanling, and seized raw materials and several related machines worth of over 200 million dollars.

Six people have been arrested so far.

Most than 30 tonnes of duty-not-paid tobacco and over a million illicit cigarettes worth around 13 million dollars were seized during the operation.

Customs officers conducted a search at the unlicensed facility located in a Fanling warehouse on Thursday, discovering a production chain that supplied the products to local and overseas markets.

Five men and one woman aged between 21 and 52 were arrested.

Authorities said the facility had the capability of producing up to 30 million cigarettes, and did not exclude the possibility of more arrests.