An incoming male passenger was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment and fined $2,000 by the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts today (October 15) for importing duty-not-paid cigarettes and failing to declare them to Customs officers, in contravention of the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance (DCO).

     Customs officers intercepted an incoming 30-year-old Mainland male passenger arriving in Hong Kong from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, at Hong Kong International Airport yesterday (October 14) and seized about 82 400 duty-not-paid cigarettes, with an estimated market value of about $371,000 and a duty potential of about $273,000, from his personal baggage. The passenger was subsequently arrested.

     Customs welcomes the sentence. The custodial sentence has imposed a considerable deterrent effect and reflects the seriousness of the offences.

     Customs reminds members of the public that under the DCO, cigarettes are dutiable goods to which the DCO applies. Any person who imports, deals with, possesses, sells or buys duty-not-paid cigarettes commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.

     Members of the public may report any suspected illicit cigarette activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002).

  

     The Lands Department (LandsD) announced today (October 15) that it registered 12 lease modifications, two land exchanges and one lot extension in the Land Registry during the quarter ending September 2026, of which two were modifications of a technical nature involving nil premium.
          
     Among these 15 land transactions, five are located on Hong Kong Island, seven are in Kowloon and three are in the New Territories. The transactions exclude Small House cases.

     A further seven lots were granted by private treaty during the period. One was granted to the Hung Shui Kiu Industry Park Company Limited wholly-owned by the Government for the development of an industry park; one was granted for the development of innovation and technology park and the talent accommodation in the Loop; one was granted for garden use in Shek O; one was granted to the MTR Corporation Limited for residential development in Yuen Long; one was granted to the Urban Renewal Authority for residential development in Hung Hom; and the other two were granted to the Hong Kong Housing Authority for public housing developments.
      
     The above land transactions realised a total land premium of about $2,934.347 million.
          
     Transaction records of the lease modifications, land exchanges, private treaty grants and lot extensions, including those registered recently, are uploaded to the LandsD website (www.landsd.gov.hk/en/land-disposal-transaction/land-transaction.html) on a monthly basis. Details of the transactions may be obtained by searching the registered documents in the Land Registry.

     The Lands Department (LandsD) today (October 15) posted resumption notices in accordance with section 4 of the Lands Resumption Ordinance (Chapter 124) and acquisition notices in accordance with section 4 of the Land Acquisition (Possessory Title) Ordinance (Chapter 130) for the development of Ngau Tam Mei New Development Area (NTM NDA) (First Batch).
      
     The Government will resume 1 043 private lots with an area of about 62 hectares, and acquire the government land occupied by 23 graves and 22 urns of about 450 square metres, as well as the government land with 27 fishponds of about 2 700 sq m. The said land will revert to and vest in the Government upon the expiry of a period of three months from the date of affixing the notices (i.e. January 16, 2027).
      
     The abovementioned land reversion date and land vesting date are not the departure deadlines for the affected households and business undertakings. The LandsD will post notices in the relevant areas about three months before the applicable departure deadlines, requiring affected parties to depart in batches according to the project programme. It is now estimated that the affected households and business undertakings will have to move out in batches from the second quarter of 2027 at the earliest. The LandsD and its appointed Community Liaison Service Team will maintain close liaison with the affected parties to handle the compensation and rehousing matters.
      
     The NTM NDA is the fifth NDA development being commenced in the Northern Metropolis and will be developed in conjunction with the San Tin Technopole to establish the San Tin University Town based on the concept of town area. The campus area in the NTM NDA is about 52 hectares, including an area of about five hectares reserved for the construction of the third medical school.
      
     Site formation and infrastructure works for the NTM NDA is scheduled to commence in the first half of next year, and the "spade-ready sites" will be available progressively starting from the end of 2028.