More than 30 non-residents suspected of ‘abnormal’ cross-border movements banned from entry – Police

*By Therese Tu

The Public Security Police Force (CPSP) announced today (Wednesday) they have banned more than 30 non-residents from entering Macau, as they are suspected of “deviating from the original visiting purpose” of their visa after carrying out an “abnormal number of entries and exits” after a woman involved in goods smuggling was reported as a new Covid confirmed case in the neighbouring city Zhuhai.

A woman residing in Tanzhou, Zhongshan who regularly crossed the Gongbei Border and tested positive for Covid-19 led to mandatory nucleic acid testing being carried out to almost 8,000 people who resided or worked in a nearby residential area.

The woman was said to have used a visa for the purpose of visiting her family in Macau, to carry out smuggling practices in the SAR and was banned to enter the SAR for one year.

This kind of parallel trading usually involves people – known as ‘water good travellers’ – who take advantage of multiple entry visa policy to import goods from Macau to Mainland China, by individually carrying goods between the two sides in multiple crossings.

The CPSP added that it will strengthen the entry inspection and ban entry of non-residents who are engaged in parallel trading in accordance with the law, the press release stated.

For local Macau residents involved in smuggling, the case will be transferred to Customs to further proceedings.