PUBLIC ORDER
250
Customs and Excise Department
During the year, a major re-organisation of the Customs and Excise Department was carried out. The objectives were to give the department the right organisation to deal with challenges in the 1990's, to change the partially-geographical organisation to a more functional one to make senior officers more accountable for their decisions, to put more resources into intelligence gathering and analysis, and to provide operational commanders with the best information available through the development of risk management techniques.
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As a result, the department is now organised into four major branches the Head- quarters Branch, the Operations Branch, the Investigation Branch and the Trade Controls Branch, with the addition of a Civil Secretariat.
Revenue Protection
Several innovations to simplify control procedures under the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance were introduced during the year. These included changing the tobacco duty system from a weight basis to a unitary basis; the adoption of a specific duty rate for beer to replace the system based on the degree of original gravity of the wort - which is a solution obtained by infusion from malt, fermented to form beer; the abolition of licensing requirements for the sale of duty-paid cigarettes, alcoholic liquors, motor spirit and motor diesel oil, and abolition of the permit requirements for the import and export of composite products containing dutiable commodities.
Anti-Narcotics Operations
The department continued to co-operate closely with the police, overseas customs authorities and other law enforcement agencies in the prevention and suppression of illicit trafficking in narcotics and other dangerous drugs.
During the year, 635 kilograms of opiate drugs and cannabis were seized, including 132 kilograms of heroin, 104 kilograms of opium and 399 kilograms of cannabis. A total of 1 089 persons were charged with drug offences.
There was a significant upsurge in the quantity of cannabis smuggled into Hong Kong. In March 1989, a record seizure of 291 kilograms of herbal cannabis was made from two consignments of containerised cargo, and in August another consignment of 76 kilograms was seized.
A total of nine drug smugglers with high-grade heroin were intercepted at the airport prior to departure for North America and Europe. As a result of joint operations with overseas law enforcement agencies, eight persons were arrested abroad with a total seizure of 15 kilograms of No. 4 heroin valued at $76 million.
Drug Trafficking (Recovery of Proceeds)
On September 1, 1989, the Drug Trafficking (Recovery of Proceeds) Ordinance was enacted. The ordinance provides for the tracing, confiscation and recovery of the proceeds of drug trafficking, and for a new offence of assisting drug traffickers to retain these proceeds. Enforcement of the ordinance is the joint responsibility of the department and the police. A new unit, comprising customs investigators and professional accountants, was established to carry out the investigation and prosecution work.
Anti-Smuggling Operations
Following the re-organisation of the department and the abolition of the regional management structure, anti-smuggling operations became the joint responsibility of the