Customers' shipments dumped in landfill
A blacklisted removals firm was at the centre of a furious row last night after it emerged that millions of dollars worth of its customers' property had been dumped in a landfill site.
The Sunday Morning Post has discovered that six shipping container loads of valuable goods were thrown away after East Asia Movers boss Janson Wong Hing-wah ran out of money.
The fate of Mr Wong's shipments, one of the central mysteries surrounding this 18-month saga, only emerged after the police arrested the former part-time movie tough guy.
Customers have reacted with horror at the news that the goods were only dumped in July, more than a year after police started their investigation into East Asia Movers.
One customer, who asked not to be named, said: 'I just can't believe that the police and Department of Justice have allowed this to happen. This has been going on since last year.
'I've been told that the goods were only dumped in July. If the police had acted sooner none of this would have happened.'
Last month the Post revealed that a nine-month police investigation had been branded inadequate by government lawyers, who told police to start again.
Police had been alerted by the Consumer Council in June last year after a string of complaints about East Asia Movers.
At least 16 customers have complained over the past year, and in several instances have won Small Claims Tribunal cases against the company and been awarded damages.
The customers have not received the payouts.
East Asia Movers had been accused of presiding over a series of disastrous shipments that damaged goods, often beyond repair. But in many cases the goods simply disappeared.
Police have discovered that most of the property was simply left to rot at a warehouse in Ping Che, close to Fanling where Mr Wong's firm was based.
A police source said: 'We understand that Wong simply told the warehouse owner he could dump the property in the landfill.'
Police understand that it took six truck journeys to remove all the property from the warehouse in Ping Che Road.
Mr Wong, who has not been charged, is out on police bail after he was arrested earlier this month in connection with the firm's activities.
He told the Post: 'The warehouse originally asked me to take the goods back. But I really was not able to take them back. There was too much . . .
'Firstly, I didn't have money, manpower or means of transportation to remove them; secondly, I couldn't afford to find or rent another place to store them. So I left them at their disposal.'
The police have since removed four remaining containers of property to a police compound for customers to view.
One customer said: 'When I went there I could not find my property and have been asked back to look at some more boxes.
'But bearing in mind what has gone into the landfill, you have to wonder whether this is all too little, too late.'
CAR30GET
