Hong Kong customs seizes 14,080 smuggled slimming jabs bound for Macau

Hong Kong customs have seized more than 14,000 weight-loss injections bound for Macau, days after the South China Morning Post exclusively reported on their suspected illegal sale without prescriptions in the city.The Customs and Excise Department said on Thursday that injections, tobacco products, and other smuggled goods seized from a river trade vessel at Black Point, Tuen Mun, last Wednesday were estimated to be worth about HK$56 million (US$7.2 million).Samples of the 14,080 slimming jabs, displayed to the press in boxes labelled “Mounjaro” by Japan’s Tanabe Pharma, were shown to reporters. Customs said each jab retails for around HK$200.“These [jabs] have gained popularity in recent years … we’ve seen a rising trend in smuggling cases involving slimming injections,” Woo Suet-yi, an investigator with the Syndicate Crimes Investigation Bureau, said.She said customs had encountered various brands of slimming injections in previous smuggling cases, but did not specify how many were involved.Woo said customs was investigating the authenticity of the seized products and had not ruled out possible syndicated operations.The smuggled products included the injections, beauty products and cigarettes. Photo: Elson Li