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Marine Police arrested 11 men and seized 636,000 pieces of optical discs and a quantity of negative films worth more than $12 million in an anti-smuggling operation near Waglan Island last night (April 12).
Codenamed "Ballkicker", the operation was jointly conducted by Marine East Division and Small Boat Division.
About 8.30pm yesterday, officers of the Marine Small Boat Division spotted some vessels off Wagland Island and after a chase, Police successfully intercepted one speedboat.
A total of 123 boxes with 123,000 pieces of optical discs and a small quantity of negative films were found on the speedboat.
Two male mainlanders, aged 25 and 43, were then arrested for attempting to export unmanifested cargo after failing to produce the manifest document.
Another Police launch discovered a Hong Kong cargo vessel escaping from the scene and intercepted it off Shek O.
A total of 513 boxes with 513,000 pieces of optical discs were seized on board. Nine Hong Kong men, aged between 20 and 27, on the cargo vessel were arrested for assisting in exporting unmanifested cargo.
All arrested men were still being detained for enquiries.
Investigations by Marine Regional Crime Unit are still proceeding.
Police Report No 9
Ends/Thursday, April 13, 2006
Issued at HKT 17:43
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