HONG KONG: Nine military armored personnel carriers being shipped from Taiwan to Singapore have been confiscated by Hong Kong customs at the Kwai Chung container terminal.
Armored vehicles and tanks are regarded as strategic commodities in Hong Kong, and according to local media it is the biggest seizure of its kind in 20 years. The vessel was not identified.
If the military consignment had remained on the ship it would have been able to continue on to Singapore, but the containers are believed to have either been offloaded by mistake or were being transferred to another vessel as part of the transshipment process.
Officers from the Customs and Excise Department discovered the goods during a random inspection. The department was unavailable for comment, but it is believed the consignee of the cargo has not yet been identified.
A licence is required to import and export strategic commodities into Hong Kong, which the Hong Kong Customs and Excise website identifies as high performance computers, sophisticated communications equipment, and military weapons such as tanks and armored vehicles.
A total of 12 containers were offloaded at the terminal on the vessel that arrived from the port of Kaohsiung in Taiwan, and the armored vehicles were found in nine of the boxes by customs. Explosives were also found in the container, according to Hong Kong Free Press.
No arrests were made, but customs officers reportedly had workers surround the armored cars with containers before posting guards and restricting access.
It is not the first time military equipment has been seized at Hong Kong. According to the SCMP, in 2000, five Soviet-made armored personnel carriers ordered by the state-owned China Aviation Industry Supply and bound for Tianjin were held.
Customs officers in 2006 confiscated a MIG-29 fighter jet being shipped to the United States, and in 2010, a K-21 light tank and components were seized on their return through Hong Kong after being displayed at a Saudi Arabian exhibition.
