Hong Kong customs officers have arrested two women at the border for allegedly smuggling animals after they were separately found with a dog worth HK$3,000 (US$380) and two endangered birds that could be sold for a total of HK$5,000.
The Customs and Excise Department said on Friday that it had intercepted a 57-year-old mainland Chinese woman at the Lo Wu checkpoint’s arrival hall a day earlier and discovered the dog concealed inside her sling bag.
The dog was estimated to have a market value of about HK$3,000.
Customs said they arrested the suspect and handed the case over to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD).
Customs officers also arrested a 46-year-old local woman at the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line checkpoint on Thursday, seizing two birds collectively worth about HK$5,000 from her backpack.
AFCD officers confirmed the birds were an endangered species listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and regulated under the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance.