Customs officials on Tuesday proposed increasing the penalties for crimes involving illicit cigarettes, after they detected a 50 percent rise in cases this year.

Customs recorded over 7,000 cases in the first five months, which was a 54 percent increase when compared with the same period last year.

An assistant customs commissioner, Lai Chi-wing, said most illicit cigarettes were shipped into Hong Kong before the pandemic, but more travellers had been bringing in illicit cigarettes into the city after the border reopened.

"The total number of incoming passengers bringing in dutiable cigarettes was over 5,000 [from February to May], so this is not a small figure. So we try to target these incoming passengers bringing in small amount of cigarettes," he said.

Officials recommended increasing the maximum imprisonment term from two to seven years, and to double the maximum fine to HK$2 million.

They also proposed including the offence of illicit cigarettes under the Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance, as cases may involve syndicates.

Customs proposed that cigarettes being sold lower than the tax amount should be presumed as duty-not-paid goods.

It pointed out there were packs of cheap white cigarettes being sold at HK$40 in the market, which was even lower than the required tax of HK$66 for a packet of 20 cigarettes.