2 domestic helpers arrested in Hong Kong over HK$900,000 illicit-cigarette haul

Hong Kong customs has arrested two domestic helpers suspected to have been using their employers’ homes to store illicit cigarettes and seized HK$900,000 (US$115, 400) worth of goods.

Customs said its officers spotted and intercepted two women, aged 40 and 48, carrying suspicious nylon bags on Sunday at Choi Yuen Estate in Sheung Shui and found 90,000 cigarettes inside.

The officers escorted the pair to their employers’ flats for further investigation and found another 110,000 illicit cigarettes.

“Based on preliminary investigations, the two arrested domestic helpers are suspected to have been using their co-living employers’ public housing units as storage centres for illicit cigarettes,” it said.

“They used the flats as delivery addresses and collected the illicit cigarettes on a ‘piecemeal basis’ to avoid detection by their employers and distributed them during the early hours on holidays.”

It said it would continue to investigate the source of the cigarettes and distribution channels and did not rule out more arrests.