Elderly foreigners being tricked into smuggling drugs out of Hong Kong, customs say
New tactics revealed as customs say seizures soar; officials using foreign intelligence to fight back but claim no sign city is trafficking hub
Foreign retirees as old as 82 have been tricked by drugs gangs into flying to Hong Kong with false claims of an inheritance and then lured into smuggling narcotics back to the West, the Customs and Excise Department says.
The tactics - unknown in the city before last year - were revealed as customs said drug seizures in Hong Kong in 2014 surged by about 140 per cent.
A boom in psychotropic drugs in the Asia-Pacific region was cited as the reason for the jump in smuggling. Overall, customs said the amount of these drugs seized across the region multiplied by 100 between 2011 and 2013.
One tactic stood out. "The emails [which the victims received] said all the travel expenses would be paid for," said Ho Shi-king, assistant commissioner for intelligence and investigation.
"They would be asked [if they came to Hong Kong] to carry a suitcase back home for some money … usually around 1-2kg of Ice was hidden inside the suitcase," he said yesterday, referring to an operation jointly mounted with the Australian and American authorities.