Hong Kong police arrest 18 over laundering HK$66 million in crime proceeds

Hong Kong police have arrested 18 people for allegedly laundering HK$66 million (US$8.5 million) in crime proceeds as part of a crackdown on a syndicate suspected of operating from hotel rooms across the city to process the money using stooge bank accounts.

The force said on Friday the arrestees comprised four people suspected of acting as leading or core members and 14 alleged stooge bank account holders. They were arrested over the past two days.

“Our investigation shows that HK$66 million has been laundered in the past eight months through more than 30 bank accounts,” said Chief Inspector Man Chi-yeung of Hong Kong Island’s regional crime unit.

The 13 men and five women, aged between 29 and 61, were apprehended on suspicion of conspiring to launder money.

The force said the core syndicate members had allegedly been actively recruiting residents to open stooge bank accounts with traditional and virtual banks to handle the proceeds, including funds linked to non-local fraud cases.

The core members also instructed bank account holders to withdraw cash or make further transactions and used hotel rooms as their operational centres, police said.

“Core members rented hotel rooms in different districts as their mobile money laundering centres to organise and plan relevant activities, including arranging stooge bank account holders to operate their accounts,” Man said.