The haul was the 'largest single sea-smuggling case' in the territory's history, the customs department said in a statement.

Following an intelligence-led investigation, customs officers stopped a vessel as it headed to Zhaoqing in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong early on Thursday, the statement said.

'(Officers) detained 32 containers onboard the vessel, declared to contain 'plastic waste', for examination,' the statement said.

'As a result, a large amount of smuggling goods worth about 200 million dollars were seized.'

Customs officers on Sunday showed some of the wide range of good seized, including televisions and other electronics, cosmetics, Chinese medicine, chemicals and metals.

After the seizure of the boat, officers then raided six Hong Kong companies and arrested three people. The investigation is still ongoing, the statement said.

Earlier this year, police and customs officers smashed a cross-border smuggling network that ferried electronic goods to mainland China through a 600-metre-long tunnel from Hong Kong.

Previously, they had cracked an operation that saw goods ferried across the border along a long cable suspended from a Chinese tower block.

Hong Kong and mainland China run independent legal and taxation systems, and smugglers often try to take advantage of different prices and tax rates to smuggle goods either in or out of China.-- AFP