Customs officials on Monday said they had seized the largest ever haul of smuggled goods, with HK$1.5 billion of electronics, wine, music records and endangered species found.

Officers discovered the goods, declared as paper pulp, hidden in 15 cargo containers onboard an ocean-going vessel at the Kwai Tsing Container Terminals earlier this month. Officers believe the products were being taken to the mainland via Singapore.

"The special thing about this case is the criminals adopted a more complicated and costly route, smuggling popular goods disguised as paper pulps to Singapore and immediately shipped them back to mainland China in a bid to divert attention and evade investigation by law enforcement," said Customs' head of syndicate crimes investigation bureau Rita Li.

The goods include one billion new circuit boards, 25 tonnes of dried seafood including shark fins of endangered species, 27,000 music records and 20,000 bottles of wine.

Li said the goods also include some old computers and mobile phones.

A 45-year-old shipping company manager was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the smuggling.

Li said there is a rising trend of ocean-going vessels being used for smuggling, with four cases detected during the first half of this year.