A Vietnamese woman and six Chinese people were arrested by officials at the border between Zhuhai and Macau for allegedly smuggling currencies worth 1.6 million Macau pataca (about US$198,000) out of the territory between July 18 and 20.
Macau customs launched a three-day crackdown at the Gongbei Port, intercepting people suspected of smuggling currencies out the region, Tai Chung Pou reported.
On July 20, a Chinese man and a man and a woman from Macau were found with HK$200,000, HK$300,000 and 200,000 Macau pataca respectively. On July 19, a Vietnamese woman was found with 116,000 Macau pataca hidden in two bags of vegetables, while a Chinese woman had HK$471,000 undeclared.
On July 18, the first day of the operation, a private car was intercepted and the driver was found to be carrying HK$225,000 and 8,000 Macau pataca and his passenger had HK$155,000.
Between January and the end of June this year, there were about 120 currency smuggling cases involving 19.73 million Chinese yuan. The smuggled cash was confiscated by Macau authorities.