New trend of gold & silver smuggling into China

There has been a sharp rise in seizures of gold and silver bars smuggled from mainland China. Customs officers detected more than two tonnes in the first eight months of the year in a move thought to be connected to the rising value of the precious metals.
Officers seized about 2.2 tonnes of smuggled gold and silver worth more than HK$33 million this year, prompting Hong Kong and mainland authorities to strengthen inspections on both sides of the border, the Post was told.
There were no seizures last year and in 2014.
It is understood the new trend surfaced in the second quarter of this year. Nearly 10 cases involving the import of precious metals from the mainland were detected at border control points over the past five months.
The biggest case involved the seizure ofHK$11 million worth of gold bars hidden in a secret compartment near the mud flap of a Hong Kong-bound limousine’s front wheel at the Shenzhen Bay border crossing.
‘Among the seizures, only a small portion was gold, most was silver,’ one source with knowledge of the trend said.

This post was published at TruthinGold on September 5, 2016.