Hong Kong Customs Arrests Two Men Over HK$35 Million Laundering
HK01 · 3 SOURCESabout 1 hour ago2 MIN
Summary
Hong Kong Customs said it arrested two 33-year-old local men on Tuesday on suspicion of dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offence, in a money-laundering case involving about HK$35 million linked to a drug investigation. The arrests followed a financial probe launched after Customs broke an HK$8.3 million drug case in August last year and detained one 33-year-old man in that operation.
Key Points
- Customs wealth investigators traced suspicious fund flows from a 2025 drug case and found one suspect, a telecommunications repair worker, had allegedly sold his personal bank account through instant messaging for payment
- Before the account was sold, it handled only hundreds to a few thousand Hong Kong dollars monthly, but more than HK$1.7 million from third parties entered within a month afterward
- Investigators said the first suspect briefly stayed in Shenzhen to create the appearance of running a business there, while syndicate members used his phone in a hotel room to conduct online banking transactions
- Nearly all of the HK$1.7 million received by the first suspect was transferred to the second suspect, a self-reported logistics assistant, whose account took in about HK$33.5 million from January 2024 to August 2025
- The second suspect’s account recorded more than 5,800 transactions involving over 1,000 counterparties, averaging 292 transactions a month, with funds quickly moved onward in what Customs described as layered laundering
Why It Matters
The case remains under investigation, with Customs examining the suspects’ backgrounds, the source and destination of funds, and the wider laundering syndicate, and officers said further arrests are possible. Customs also warned that lending or selling bank accounts, or helping others process funds of unknown origin, can amount to money laundering punishable by a fine of up to HK$5 million and 14 years’ imprisonment