China News Service, Hong Kong, July 15 (Reporter Wang Jiacheng) Hong Kong Customs took a law enforcement action codenamed "Cracking Money" on the 8th of this month to dismantle a suspected money laundering syndicate and arrest 4 people.

After preliminary investigation by the customs, it is believed that the amount involved in the case exceeded 1.2 billion yuan (HKD, the same below).

  The Customs introduced at a press conference on the 15th that the arrested were four Hong Kong men, aged between 24 and 33, who were suspected of money laundering crimes.

Among them, the 33-year-old man is believed to be a key member of the group. At the beginning of last year, he began to recruit three other men, with a monthly payment of 10,000 to 20,000 yuan, to induce them to open the three "shell" companies involved in the case and serve as directors. They were then assigned to open accounts on a local virtual currency trading platform and multiple banks.

  According to the customs, the three companies handled a large number of unusual and huge transactions through the virtual currency trading accounts and bank accounts opened from February 2020 to May 2021, with a total transaction volume of more than 1.2 billion yuan, including 880 million yuan in virtual currencies. And 350 million yuan in cash, the money is not ruled out as the proceeds of crime.

It is reported that the batch of virtual currencies are "TEDA coins."

  The customs also seized a batch of computers, mobile phones, bank security codes, company registration documents, bank statements and cheque books at the search location, and frozen bank deposits of 20 million yuan.

The customs stated that the case is still under investigation and it does not rule out that more people have been arrested.

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