Tobacco crackdown: Customs have seized cigarettes worth $1 million from a lorry at the Lok Ma Chau Control Point.

Customs officers have arrested a 39-year-old local male driver and seized $1 million worth of illicit cigarettes, with a dutiable value of $630,000, at the Lok Ma Chau Control Point.

Yesterday morning, officers stopped a lorry with manifests  declaring it carried paper bags and buttons. X-ray examinations suggested it was carrying different types of goods, and they found cigarettes in three large wooden boxes.

The driver will be charged under the Import & Export Ordinance.

According to the law, the maximum penalty for importing unmanifested cargo is a $2 million fine and seven years' jail.