International effort to break syndicate nets Ice suspect
The alleged ringleader of a multinational drug syndicate which set up one of the world's largest drug laboratories was arrested when he tried to flee Hong Kong, Customs officers said yesterday.
Wednesday's arrest of the 29-year-old Filipino-Chinese man came after law-enforcers in the Philippines raided the drug lab in Cebu last Friday and seized $180 million worth of the party drug Ice and chemicals that could have produced 7.5 tonnes more with a street value of $2.1 billion.
The raid led to the arrest of a further 11 people, including a Hong Kong man. Officers believe that the Hong Kong resident, surnamed Hung, was manager of the lab.
'We believe that the mega drug lab had been in operation since the beginning of this year and could produce 500kg of the drug Ice a week,' said Assistant Commissioner William Chow Oi-tung of the Customs and Excise Department.
'We believe that the multinational syndicate did not supply the drug to one country alone.'
Officers said they had investigated the syndicate since May with officers from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, police in the Philippines, and their counterparts in Macau.