Hong Kong Customs on Thursday announced that they had smashed a money-laundering syndicate for being in possession of 2.5 billion HK dollars (about $32.21m).

The customs officers, who were said to be acting on intelligence, targeted the suspected fraud syndicate during a four-day operation.

The operation which was said to have taken place between April 15 and April 19 saw the Customs operatives raiding four residential premises in Tai Po and Yuen Long in the New Territories.

Xinhua reports that five men and one woman suspected to be involved in the case were arrested for money laundering.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the six suspects had opened about 60 personal bank accounts at various banks in Hong Kong and had made over 2,600 suspicious transactions involving 2.5 billion HK dollars in total between January 2018 and February 2020.

Four of the six apprehended culprits, who were suspected to be core members of the syndicate, were said to be engaged in processing suspicious transactions and recruiting others to assist in processing suspicious transactions.

The other two were suspected to have been recruited for engaging in money laundering activities.
The customs disclosed that the case is still under investigation.

Under Hong Kong’s Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance, the maximum penalty of money laundering is a fine of 5 million HK dollars and imprisonment for 14 years upon conviction.