Customs officers said on Tuesday that they’ve smashed a money laundering syndicate and arrested eight people for allegedly laundering over HK$3.5 billion.

Between April 26 and last Wednesday, officers raided 14 locations across the SAR, and arrested four men and four women aged between 24 and 68 – one of whom is believed to be a core member of the syndicate.

The 38-year-old suspect allegedly recruited four people, including his wife, to set up local companies and open company bank accounts to deal with suspected crime proceeds.

Officers said the shell companies had no business operations, and the large transactions raised suspicion.

"Eight suspects were arrested for their alleged involvement in processing a large amount of funds of unknown origin from May 2021 to October 2022. This involved over 2,000 high-value suspicious transactions," divisional commander Wong Ching-fu said.

He added that officers had managed to freeze about HK$2.7 million in suspicious funds so far.

"Regarding the origin of the suspected crime proceeds, they are mainly from two cryptocurrency trading companies and also some local shell companies, as well as some mainland and overseas companies," Wong noted.

All of the suspects have been released on bail.