SINGAPORE: The Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department has pressed charges on Wednesday (March 22) against shipping company APL and the captain of the container ship which transported nine Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) armored Terrex vehicles into the city from Taiwan in November without a required licence, reported the South China Morning Post.
The armored vehicles were seized in Hong Kong on Nov 23 while en route to Singapore from Taiwan, where they took part in routine training.
The move comes after the Customs and Excise Department sought legal advice from the Department of Justice.
The nine Terrex armored troop carriers were seized by customs officers on November 23 last year. The cargo was bound for Singapore from the Taiwanese port of Kaohsiung.
The vehicles, which were not “specifically” declared in the cargo manifest, had been used in a military exercise in Taiwan. It was Hong Kong’s biggest seizure of “strategic commodities” in two decades.
The legal action against the shipping company and the captain came after the customs department completed a probe into the incident in January and found the Singapore government could not be held responsible as it was only the consignee of the military vehicles.
Under Hong Kong’s Import and Export Ordinance, a licence is required for the import, export, re-export or transshipment of strategic commodities. The maximum penalty for failing to obtain a licence is an unlimited fine and seven years’ imprisonment.
