Hong Kong residents have been arrested in two drug-smuggling cases in Shenzhen, narcotic authorities reported yesterday.
In one case a Hong Kong man, identified only as Yip, was seized at a hotel in Huanggang while allegedly completing a drug deal with a mainland man.
Another Hong Kong man - who also holds a Dutch passport - was arrested with five other men and a woman in an operation in which 83,000 Ecstasy tablets and 1.2 million yuan were seized, police said.
Police said they had been tipped off last December that a drug ring led by Yip was selling Ecstasy to major entertainment venues in Shenzhen and smuggling it to Hong Kong.
After a three-month investigation, they established that the ring was long-established and commanded about a third of Hong Kong's Ecstasy market.
Tipped off that two major drug deals were about to take place, they began 24-hour surveillance on their suspects in the two cases.