Traveller jailed and fined after attempting to smuggle cigarettes in stockings

“A traveller has been sentenced to six weeks in prison and fined HK$1,800 after attempting to smuggle cigarettes under his stockings while crossing the border from mainland China. An incoming traveller is arrested on May 27, 2026, with packs of Illicit cigarettes wrapped around his lower legs. Photo: GovHK. The 49-year-old man received his sentence at the Fanling Magistrates’ Courts on Thursday, one day after he was intercepted at the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line Control Point. Customs officers seized 1,181 sticks of illicit cigarettes from the traveller, with an estimated market value of about HK$4,800, the Customs and Excise Department said in a statement on Thursday. Around HK$3,900 in duties would have been charged on that amount of cigarettes, the statement added. Customs also released a photo appearing to show cigarette packs wrapped around a man’s lower legs underneath his stockings. The man was arrested on suspicion of contravening the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance and sentenced “for possessing duty-not-paid cigarettes and failing to declare them to Customs officers,” the statement said. The department welcomed the ruling, saying: “The custodial sentence has imposed a considerable deterrent effect and reflects the seriousness of the offences.”

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