The suspect was caught on his round with 30 parcels containing Ecstasy sent from the Netherlands Customs officers have arrested a postman for allegedly trafficking $8 million worth of Ecstasy mailed from the Netherlands to addresses on his daily round in Hunghom. The postman, 48, was caught carrying 30 parcels in his bag containing 24,700 tablets from the Netherlands while delivering letters in a building in Tak Man Street at 6pm on Tuesday. Three more parcels with 2,500 tablets were seized from the mail distribution division in Kowloon City. The 33 parcels, each containing 15 to 18 plastic straws, had arrived in Hong Kong over three days. Superintendent Daniel Cheung Chi-kwong, head of the customs drug investigation division, said the 27,200 tablets, worth $8.16 million, were sent by an international drugs ring and were believed to be intended for mostly overseas markets such as New Zealand and Japan. 'The suspect is responsible for delivering mail to about 20 buildings in Hunghom every day. He is believed to have arranged for the drugs to be sent to the buildings in his work area. 'The parcels were sent to 33 real addresses but the 33 recipients do not exist. The postman knew which parcels were intended for him and collected them,' Mr Cheung said. The postman then allegedly stored the parcels in a secret place for further distribution. Mr Cheung said the parcels were easy to identify because they all came in the same white envelope with three Dutch stamps and an address believed to be handwritten by the same person. The postman was tracked down with the help of the Post Office after Customs officers intercepted a parcel which contained 835 Ecstasy tablets from the Netherlands at the international mail division at the airport on April 4. The suspect was believed to have been involved in the illegal trade for three or four months. He was charged with trafficking dangerous drugs last night and will appear in Kowloon City Court today. It was the first time a postman had been arrested in Hong Kong for drug trafficking. Customs officers have discussed with the Post Office ways to step up prevention. 'This is an individual case. The Post Office has a stringent monitoring system. This case would not have been detected so smoothly without the co-operation of the Post Office,' Mr Cheung said. A Post Office spokesman also described the arrest as an isolated incident. He said co-operation was continuing with law enforcers to crack down on mail-related crime. On Monday, Customs officers at the airport arrested two 18-year-olds - an unemployed youth and a Form Five student - for trafficking 0.8kg of the drug Ice in their check-in luggage as they were heading to Guam for a five-day tour. The drug, stuffed inside two toilet-roll holders, is worth $290,000 in Hong Kong and up to $880,000 in Guam. The pair, alleged to have been promised $20,000 for making the delivery, will appear in Tsuen Wan Court today.