Hong Kong Customs seizes suspected counterfeit watches worth $1.5 million
Hong Kong Customs on January 19 seized 1 500 suspected counterfeit watches with a total estimated market value of $1.5 million at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) Hong Kong Port.
Through risk assessment, Customs on that day intercepted an incoming lorry at the HZMB Hong Kong Port. After inspection, Customs officers found the batch of suspected counterfeit watches inside the cargo compartment of the lorry. A 55-year-old male driver was subsequently arrested.
An initial investigation revealed that the batch of suspected counterfeit watches would have been transhipped to overseas regions.
The investigation is ongoing, and the arrested man has been released on bail pending further investigation.
Customs will continue to take stringent enforcement action against counterfeit goods and smuggling activities through risk assessment and intelligence analysis.
Under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, any person who imports or exports any goods to which a forged trademark is applied commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for five years.
Under the Import and Export Ordinance, any person found guilty of importing or exporting unmanifested cargo is liable to a maximum fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years upon conviction.
Members of the public may report any suspected counterfeiting 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/).
Hong Kong Customs seizes suspected counterfeit watches worth $1.5 million Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Remarks by SCS and PSC chairman at media session (with video)
The Secretary for the Civil Service, Mrs Ingrid Yeung, and the Chairman of the Public Service Commission, Ms Maisie Cheng, met the media today (October 29) on Tier II investigation into the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po under the Administrative Responsibility Two-tier Investigation Mechanism. Following are their remarks:
Reporter: Will Winnie Ho be under the Commission's investigation given that she's at the minister's level, and if not, what will be done to find out if she is held liable for the deadly inferno? And also, what will be done to ensure that the Commission can carry out a comprehensive probe in three months amid the involvement of a number of departments that the CE said would cover 40 to 50 people. Thank you.
Secretary for the Civil Service: I'll answer the first question, and then Ms Cheng will answer the second question. The Heads of Department Accountability System and the Administrative Responsibility Two-tier Investigation Mechanism are designed to investigate into the personal responsibilities of civil servants. Political appointees are not meant to be within the scope of investigation under this mechanism.
Chairman of the Public Service Commission: Regarding how we can conduct the investigation in a comprehensive manner within three months, I think the most important thing is to point out that we have already had quite a number of weeks of preparation. As I mentioned before, as early as August, the Civil Service Bureau has already gradually posted different grades of civil servants to our team, and this team has already put all the effort to familiarise itself with the information, especially the abundant information made public by the Independent Committee (Independent Committee in relation to the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po). With all this preparatory work and also the preparatory work done by the two members (members of the Public Service Commission Mrs Ann Kung and Mr Adrian Wong) and myself in the past few months, we are very confident that although the investigation team and the support office will be officially set up today, we can commence the investigation immediately because of all the preparatory work we have done.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the remarks.)
Source: AI-found images
