HK Eye | Milk powder beats out heroin in smuggling arrests - huh?

Bloomberg takes an odd angle on milk-powder smuggling in Hong Kong.

But isn’t that comparing apples with oranges? Clamping down on an illegal addictive substance requires a different operation than enforcing limits on a food staple such as baby formula.

In the story, the second paragraph says more people have been arrested for taking across more than two cans of baby formula across the border than those held for carrying heroin. It then goes into food safety issues on the mainland and how they have created a chain effect around the world. The article doesn’t get to the drug specifics until the end, but the connection is tenuous.

As of April 23, 879 people were arrested, with 8,841 kilograms of powdered milk seized, Calvin Lee, a press officer, said in an e-mail. Last year, 420 people were arrested by border officials for having restricted drugs. Of those, 81 had heroin, 81 carried cocaine and 161 had ketamine.

The milk-powder restrictions went into effect on March 1, and since then, customs officials have been expected to watch for violations of the rule much more closely. Drug smugglers have had years of practise eluding authorities.