NARCOTICS officers believe they have broken the largest heroin cutting centre in Hongkong after police seized nearly $10 million worth of the drug in a raid on a New Territories flat yesterday.
Detectives said the Sha Tin flat was being used as a ''storehouse'' for high grade Thai-produced heroin that was being smuggled from China to be sold to traffickers for distribution throughout Hongkong.
In an ambush just before noon yesterday, 40 officers raided Golden Carnival Gardens in Chui Tin Street and arrested a 22-year-old man who acting staff officer, Superintendent Lau Yip-shing, described as the ''storekeeper''.
The man has been charged with manufacturing and trafficking in a dangerous drug and will appear in court tomorrow.
''This is the largest drug seizure from a cutting centre in Hongkong,'' Superintendent Lau said at a press conference at police headquarters last night.
''It was a storage place where the drugs were deposited and then moved on.'' Officers seized 13.05 kilograms of No 4 heroin, with a street value of about $9.3 million, and an assortment of manufacturing and packaging equipment used by the syndicate.
Superintendent Lau said the storehouse was a major drug manufacturing and distribution centre where high grade heroin with a purity of up to 90 per cent was stored and ''cut'' to 30 per cent purity.