From March 2014 to February 2015, Hong Kong's Customs and Excise Department detected a total of 4,986 cases of illegal export of powdered formula, involving the arrest of 5,000 persons, Hong Kong's Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok said on Wednesday.

Replying to a lawmaker's question in regard of parallel trading in the Legislative Council, Lai said the Hong Kong government is very concerned about the nuisance caused by parallel trading activities to the daily lives of residents.

The law enforcement agencies have been implementing a series of countermeasures in accordance with law. According to Lai, 61,200 kg of powdered formula were seized in the illegal export cases from March 2014 to February 2015.

Of the 5,000 persons arrested in these cases, 1,748 were Hong Kong residents, 3,235 were mainland residents and 17 persons were of foreign nationality. Lai said the Immigration Department of Hong Kong has established a "watch list of suspected parallel traders" to strengthen the interception of persons when entering Hong Kong, and if their purposes of visits are in doubt, the department will consider refusing their entry and repatriating them immediately.

As of the end of February 2015, the department has included information of more than 13,500 suspected mainland parallel traders in the watch list and refused over 28,500 entries, he said.