Police suspect smuggling syndicate at work behind Argentina ordeal
Organised crime network may be responsible for locals' paid trip to take antiques to Argentina
Police are investigating whether three Hongkongers who were detained by a gang of Chinese men in Buenos Aires for about a week over a broken vase, initially worth US$800,000, were recruited by a transnational syndicate to smuggle antiques to Argentina.
Officers were looking into the possibility of a syndicate luring young people to smuggle prohibited or stolen items from Hong Kong to South America, said Senior Superintendent Terry Wong Kin-wah, of the New Territories North regional command.
Yesterday, two of the victims - Rainbow Chan, 17, and Stella Au, 18 - returned to Hong Kong after the trio were released last Saturday. "The two girls are in good health but they feel exhausted," police inspector Madelene Leung Man-ying, who accompanied the pair back to the city, said at Chek Lap Kok airport.
The duo travelled to Argentina on February 6 with a 19-year-old man, carrying the vase and a Chinese painting. They were detained by five or six Putonghua-speaking men in a house after the vase was found to be damaged, and their passports were seized.
"They could walk around the house, and were even allowed to go out, but they were kept under surveillance," Wong said.
After their release, Argentine police seized a shotgun and a pistol with some bullets at the house, but made no arrests. The vase and painting were not found, Hong Kong police said.