Crime | Bus driver arrested after smuggling bird’s nest

Gongbei customs authorities have reportedly made a record seizure of bird’s nest. Yesterday, during an inspection of a bus entering Zhuhai through the Guangdong-Macau express lane of the checkpoint, authorities found a total of 31 kilograms of the product in several hidden compartments of the bus, including the dashboard, TDM reported.

According to available information, the driver was responsible for the failed attempt to smuggle the product into the mainland, concealing several boxes of the delicacy inside the bus.

Initially, authorities only found a small amount hidden in a compartment of the dashboard. However, during questioning, the driver failed to convince authorities that this was the only product hidden in the vehicle.

A further search of the entire vehicle found a total of 40 boxes of the product, plus another five bags, weighing about 31 kilograms in total.

At this point it is not clear what the destination of the product was, but Chinese authorities suspect the driver was preparing to resell the bird’s nest at a higher price after arriving in mainland China.

The police authorities stated that after this preliminary assessment, they transferred the driver to the smuggling investigation department where the investigation will continue.

Edible bird’s nests are created by swiftlets, using solidified saliva, which are then harvested for human consumption.
They are particularly prized in Chinese culture due to their rarity and supposedly high nutritional value and cosmetic properties, particularly for skin.
They are among the most expensive animal products consumed by humans, with nests being sold at prices up to about MOP53,400 per kilo, depending on the product quality grading.

Although the quality and type of the seized product has not yet been determined, authorities believe that the seizure may be worth over MOP1 million.