HONG KONG: A downright delicious HK$320,000 (about US$50,000) worth of cookies have been seized by those vigilant folks from the Hong Kong Customs and Excise department, who smelled — and possibly tasted — something strange was up with their purported origin. The batch of 4,603 cookie tins, which were decorated with adorable teddy bears, was intercepted when customs officers at Man Kam To control point inspected an incoming truck on September 29, according to a statement on the department’s website.
The cookies, stowed in the cargo compartment, were labeled as originating from Hong Kong. However “initial investigations,” say customs, revealed otherwise and the cookies were sent to a government laboratory for further (taste?) tests. The 59-year-old driver, meanwhile, found himself jammed up. Arrested, he faces a possible HK$500,000 fine and up to five years in prison for breaching the Trade Descriptions Ordinance with the false description of the goods. The suspect cookies have not yet been found available for sale at retail shops, the department further noted, just in case you were wondering.
According to its website, the customs department handled an estimated 23,171 “enforcement cases” last year, including 975 “trade description” infringements, leading to 749 arrests and the seizure of HK$161 million worth of goods. The statistics are not broken down by cookie type.
