Customs today announced that it arrested a man and seized about 10 million suspected illicit cigarettes at the Kwai Chung Customhouse Cargo Examination Compound.

The cigarettes have an estimated market value of about $27 million and a duty potential of about $19 million.

Officers found the batch of suspected illicit cigarettes inside 1,003 cartons in a seaborne transhipment container they selected for inspection through risk assessment.

The container, declared as carrying karaoke players, arrived from Singapore and was headed for the Philippines via Hong Kong.

A 38-year-old man in charge of a logistics company was subsequently arrested and an investigation is ongoing.

Call the 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or send an email to report illicit cigarette activities.