Customs officers on Wednesday said they’ve arrested three people in connection to a suspected illicit cigarette smuggling case.

They seized about 20 million suspected illicit cigarettes with an estimated market value of around HK$75 million.

Inspector Chan Ah-siu said they discovered the haul inside two containers on a suspicious barge in waters off Tsing Yi last Tuesday.

"There were 16 shipping containers on the barge. Most of them were empty. We suspect that the smugglers mixed the two containers with goods into some empty ones, in order to avoid customs' investigation," he said.

Three crew members, aged between 27 and 57, were arrested.