Macau Customs busts wine smuggling case

A local Macau resident was arrested by the city’s customs department for attempting to smuggle 162 bottles of red wines worth 30,000 Macanese pataca (about €3,500) to Hong Kong earlier this month, reports Macau’s Customs Department.

All 162 bottles of the confiscated wine (Photo credit: Macau Customs Department)

The 59-year-old suspect admitted that he was paid MOP 200 (€23.4) to transport the wines to Macau’s inner city ferry terminal, from where the wines were planned to be shipped to Wanchai in nearby Hong Kong.

The man could face a MOP 50,000 (€5,900) penalty if convicted. No details have been revealed yet about the buyer behind these illegal bottles, and no comment about the case was made from the department when reached by phone, saying the investigation is still ongoing.

Based on images from Macau Customs Department’ official website, the wines appear to be from Penfolds’ Bin series.

Both Macau and Hong Kong have zero tariff policy on wines, but Macau Customs Department told dbHK that any wines exceeding the value of MOP 5000 (€590), must be declared at the customs with properly filled forms. The suspect’s failure to do so, thus led to his arrest.