A former customer services officer with Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific has been jailed for one year and eight months for accepting at least HK$18,000 (US$2,295) in bribes to help smuggle mainland Chinese travellers overseas 17 years ago. Tsui Ying-kit, 45, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to four counts of conspiracy for an agent to accept advantages at Tsuen Wan Court, which now handles District Court cases. The defendant had been on the run since jumping bail in October 2009, before returning from mainland China to surrender in July last year. The watchdog also arrested two men who acted as escorts accompanying the travellers to check in at Hong Kong International Airport. A prosecution summary said Tsui had accessed Cathay’s computer system to check flight information and security details so that the travellers he intended to smuggle overseas could receive their boarding passes without complication.