Three incoming passengers convicted and jailed for importing / dealing with duty-not-paid cigarettes and importing alternative smoking products
Three incoming male passengers were sentenced between three to four months' imprisonment by the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts today (January 7) for importing /dealing with duty-not-paid cigarettes and failing to declare them to Customs Officers, as well as importing alternative smoking products, in contravention of the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance (DCO) and the Import and Export Ordinance (IEO).
Customs officers intercepted three incoming male passengers aged 42, 38 and 31 at Hong Kong International Airport yesterday (January 6). Customer officers seized about 45 000 and 44 000 duty-not-paid cigarettes from the personal baggage of the 42-year-old and the 38-year-old passengers respectively, with both market values at about $200,000 and both duty potentials at about $150,000. Also, around 5 800 duty-not-paid cigarettes with a market value of about $26,000 and a duty potential of about $20,000, and 27 000 alternative smoking products and 31 alternative smoking product devices with a market value of about $81,000 were seized from the personal baggage of the 31-year-old passenger. All three passengers were subsequently arrested.
The 42 year-old and 38 year-old passengers were each sentenced to four months' imprisonment by the court today in contravention of the DCO while the 31 year-old passenger was sentenced to 3 months’ imprisonment in contravention of the DCO and the IEO.
Customs welcomes the sentence. The custodial sentence has imposed a considerable deterrent effect and reflects the seriousness of the offences. Customs reminds members of the public that under the DCO, tobacco products are dutiable goods to which the DCO applies. Any person who imports, deals with, possesses, sells or buys illicit cigarettes commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.
Members of the public may report any suspected illicit cigarette activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002).
Three incoming passengers convicted and jailed for importing / dealing with duty-not-paid cigarettes and importing alternative smoking products Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Three incoming passengers convicted and jailed for importing / dealing with duty-not-paid cigarettes and importing alternative smoking products Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Three incoming passengers convicted and jailed for importing / dealing with duty-not-paid cigarettes and importing alternative smoking products Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Public healthcare fees and charges reform shows initial success Accident and Emergency Departments focus resources on critical care
The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The Hospital Authority (HA) spokesperson announced today (January 8) that since the implementation of the public healthcare fees and charges reform one week ago, operations in Accident and Emergency Departments (A&Es) of public hospitals have been functioning smoothly. The overall number of attendances has decreased. A&Es have been able to concentrate resources to serve critical and emergency patients, ensuring timely treatment for all critical and emergency patients and improving the efficiency of patient care.
During the past week (from January 1 to 7), a total of 32 147 patients attended the 18 A&Es under the HA. Among them, 1 807 patients were triaged as critical or emergency cases, 14 077 as urgent cases, while the remaining 16 263 as semi-urgent or non-urgent cases.
During this period, the daily average A&E attendances was 4 592, which included an average of 258 critical or urgent cases (5.6 per cent), 2 011 emergency cases (43.8 per cent), and 2 323 semi-urgent or non-urgent patients (50.6 per cent). Compared to the full year of 2025, the daily average A&E attendances was 5 210, comprising 228 critical or emergency cases (4.4 per cent), 2 156 emergency cases (41.4 per cent), and 2 826 semi-urgent or non-urgent cases (54.2 per cent).
The HA spokesperson said, "Over the past week, the number of A&E attendances and the proportion of patients of various triage categories at A&Es indicate that the public healthcare fees and charges reform has yielded initial results. Not only have the number and proportion of semi-urgent and non-urgent patients decreased, but all critical and emergency patients arriving at A&Es have been able to receive immediate treatment from healthcare staff. The vast majority of emergency patients received treatment within 15 minutes of arrival. Additionally, the proportion of urgent patients receiving treatment within 30 minutes has increased from 82.7 per cent last year to 88.8 per cent, while the average waiting time for urgent patients has decreased from 22 minutes to 19 minutes."
Following the implementation of the public healthcare fees and charges reform, the HA has regularised the A&E refund arrangements, which can facilitate less urgent patients in opting to other healthcare institutions after triage. From January 1 to 7 this year, a total of 257 A&E patients applied for refund, compared to 691 patients during the same period in 2025. The spokesperson reiterated that A&E is positioned to serve critical, emergency and urgent patients. Individuals with minor conditions or episodic illnesses, such as common colds, are encouraged to visit Family Medicine Clinics, private doctors, or 24-hour outpatient services of private hospitals. This enables A&E to concentrate resources on treating patients with urgent medical needs.
Currently, all A&Es are operating smoothly. While a small number of semi-urgent and non-urgent patients might experience longer waiting time when A&Es were handling a large volume of critical cases at certain period, the majority of these patients were treated and discharged within a few hours. All patients requiring admission after treatment in A&E can be admitted within four hours, with no patient remaining in the A&E for extended periods awaiting admission.
The HA will continue to closely monitor the operations of A&E to ensure that resources are focused on patients with urgent medical needs, in line with the objectives of the public healthcare fees and charges reform to strengthen support for "poor, acute, serious, critical" patients.
Source: AI-found images
