Hong Kong Customs officers concluded Friday a two-day anti-piracy parallel operation with their counterparts in Guangdong Customs.
  
As the 11th round of such operations, this parallel crackdown operation targeted cross-boundary vehicles smuggling, infringing optical discs and counterfeit products into Hong Kong.
  
Hong Kong Customs officers have seized from three incoming lorries at Man Kam To Control Point 1.5 million HK dollars (US$290,000) worth of infringing goods, including about 5,000 pirated optical discs, 1,000 counterfeit handbags, 4,000 pairs of sports shoes and 15,000 telephone accessories.
  
They also arrested three drivers, aged 45 to 53.
  
In follow-up investigations into one of the cases, Customs officers arrested two men in Sham Shui Po when they allegedly received some of the infringing goods.
  
Divisional Commander of the Copyright Investigation Division Chong Wai-ming said that Hong Kong Customs would continue to mount similar parallel operations with their Guangdong counterparts to clamp down on piracy and protect intellectual property rights.
  
He said he believed that such operations, with instant exchange of intelligence between the two Customs administrations, would serve as an effective deterrence to potential offenders.

(Xinhua News Agency September 11, 2004)