Receipts attached 4 sources

Sources

  1. Other source

    Customs chief on 2026 seizure volume, transit share and Huanggang equipment

    RTHK

    Chan’s figures and equipment remarks as reported after a radio program; no separate 2026 statistical table cited.

  2. Other source

    Customs chief on illicit-cigarette cases and enforcement

    RTHK

    Case counts, traveler cases, on-the-spot penalties and prosecution distinction.

  3. Other source

    Customs 2025 annual review

    Hong Kong government

    Official 2025 seizure total of 604 million cigarettes.

  4. Other source

    Stonecutters Bridge and Kwai Tsing Container Terminals, 2024

    Wikimedia Commons

    Illustrative image; licensing and credit appear in featured-image caption.

Limits

The 2026 figures are the commissioner’s statements reported by RTHK, not a detailed published 2026 statistical table. More than 200 million seized cigarettes were in transit, and the total cannot establish Hong Kong demand or overall smuggling volume. The Huanggang equipment remarks were not specific to cigarettes.

Corrections

No correction notes have been added for this article.

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Hong Kong Customs seized more than 600 million illicit cigarettes in the first nine months of 2026, almost as many as it confiscated in all of last year. But more than 200 million of this year’s haul was passing through Hong Kong on its way elsewhere, Customs Commissioner Chan Tsz-tat said Saturday.

That distinction matters: the headline seizure total is not a measure of how many untaxed cigarettes were intended for sale in the city. Chan disclosed the figures after a radio program, according to RTHK.

Nearly a full year’s seizures in nine months

Customs seized 604 million illicit cigarettes during 2025, according to the department’s annual review. The more than 600 million seized from January through September this year is therefore close to the previous full-year total, with three months still to count.

Chan said more than 200 million of the cigarettes seized this year were being transshipped through Hong Kong, rather than smuggled into the local market. The reported figures do not establish how much of the remaining haul was destined for Hong Kong.

He also said Customs had handled more than 18,000 illicit-cigarette cases so far this year. More than 16,000 involved arriving travelers who had not declared cigarettes above the 19-stick allowance, RTHK reported. Chan said these cases were generally dealt with through on-the-spot penalties instead of prosecution, while large-scale smuggling and illicit-cigarette warehouses were prosecuted.

What the total cannot show

A larger or faster-growing seizure count does not, by itself, show that more cigarettes are being smuggled. It can reflect changes in enforcement, trafficking volume, or both. The transit figure also means the seizures cannot be read as a direct estimate of Hong Kong’s illicit-cigarette market.

Separately, Chan said Customs was using new detection equipment at the redeveloped Huanggang border crossing and would consider extending it to other control points if it proved effective. He did not say in the remarks reported by RTHK that the equipment was being purchased specifically for cigarette enforcement.