On July 22, according to reports, Hong Kong Customs today cracked a case suspected of laundering money through the smuggling of cash and virtual assets, involving an amount of approximately 1.15 billion HKD, and arrested a local man and a non-local man.
Customs previously identified a 37-year-old local man and a 50-year-old non-local man based on intelligence and initiated a financial investigation. It was discovered that the two were suspected of smuggling cash out of the country and frequently conducting large transactions of stablecoins and fiat currencies, with the source of funds being unclear and highly inconsistent with their backgrounds, suspected of money laundering.
After an in-depth investigation, the customs authorities conducted a surprise raid this morning on 4 residential units and 2 companies, and arrested two individuals under the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance, on charges of "dealing with property known or believed to be proceeds of crime" (i.e., money laundering). During the operation, customs seized multiple mobile phones, tablets, and bank cards, among other items suspected to be related to the case. The investigation is still ongoing.