Customs today (22nd) cracked a suspected money laundering case involving smuggled cash and virtual assets, involving an amount of about HK$1.15 billion, and arrested a local man and a non-local man.
Based on intelligence, customs officers earlier targeted a 37-year-old local man and a 50-year-old non-local man and launched a wealth investigation, finding that the two smuggled cash out of the country and frequently and quickly conducted huge amounts of stablecoins and legal currency transactions with funds of unknown origin, which was extremely inconsistent with their backgrounds and financial conditions, and were suspected of engaging in money laundering activities.
After in-depth investigations, customs officers raided 4 residential units and 2 companies this morning and arrested the two men, who reported to be self-employed and unemployed respectively, on suspicion of "money laundering". During the operation, customs officers seized a batch of suspected items involved in the case, including mobile phones, tablets and bank cards. The case is still under investigation. The two arrested persons are now on bail pending investigation. It is not ruled out that more people will be arrested.
According to the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance, any person who knows or has reasonable grounds to believe that any property, whether in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, represents the proceeds of any person from an indictable crime and still handles the property is guilty of a crime. Once convicted, the maximum penalty is a fine of HK$5 million and 14 years' imprisonment, and the relevant criminal proceeds may also be confiscated.
Original URL:on.cc
