CUSTOMS officials in Hong Kong have seized a substantial quantity of counterfeit designer apparel and e-cigarettes from a container that was about to be transshipped to Italy.
Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department said staff from the harbour and river trade division intercepted a 40-foot container on June 27 which had arrived from Nansha, a sub-port of China's Guangzhou port, and was to be transshipped to Italy.
The haul, with an estimated market value of about HKD1 million (US$130,000) was confiscated. It consisted of nine hundred sets of counterfeit designer clothes, shoes, handbags and sunglasses, 1,300 contraband nicotine-containing electronic cigarettes, and about 6,100 duty-unpaid electronic cigarette accessories.
Officials said the matter is being investigated and did not mention if any arrests have been made, adding that Hong Kong's customs authorities will continue working with their Chinese and overseas counterparts to crack down on the smuggling of counterfeit goods and alternative smoking products, reports Container News.