Five men, aged 28 to 45, were arrested and illicit cigarettes worth $4.4 million were seized in customs crackdowns at Man Kam To and Lok Ma Chau control points.

In the two operations, officers seized 240 boxes containing 1.75 million illicit cigarettes worth $4.4 million, with a duty potential of $3 million, and three lorries.

A driver and three other men were arrested at the Lok Ma Chau control point, where 1.3 million duty-not-paid cigarettes were found.

A driver was arrested at Man Kam To where officers found the other 450,000 duty-not-paid cigarettes concealed inside 106 cartons containing fresh fruit.