APeruvian drugs carrier, his stomach packed to capacity with condoms filled with more than a kilo of cocaine, was allegedly still expelling his illegal load in a Customs and Excise cell when investigators showed off the packages already recovered from his body to a roomful of journalists in Hong Kong.
The mule was said to have taken a circuitous route from South America to South Africa, then Malaysia before boarding a plane for Hong Kong. Six fellow smugglers, all from Peru, had taken a plane in a different direction and landed in Bangkok.
Acting on information from the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), customs officers in Thailand and Hong Kong swooped, arresting the seven men and seizing seven kilos of the white powder in condoms and plastic.
The operation last month highlighted a new route and a new push by Colombian and other South American drug syndicates to bring cocaine into Hong Kong and mainland China, according to the head of the Customs Drug Investigation Bureau, Ben Leung Lun-cheung.
'We are very concerned because in these recent cases, we have seen very transnational trafficking. According to our intelligence, drug syndicates are trying to explore new markets in Hong Kong and mainland China,' Mr Leung said.
'They are using a new route from South America to Johannesburg and on to Hong Kong and China through Asian airports. Previously, the most common route was via Europe.'
