Editorial | Global effort can help beat Hong Kong drug traffickers
- In a post-pandemic world, the call by Hong Kong’s customs department to counterparts to target cocaine and crystal meth smugglers must be heard
Global cooperation appears the best strategy to counter a surge in the trafficking of illegal drugs across the Asia-Pacific region, including Hong Kong. The city’s Customs and Excise Department deserves credit for proposing a major joint operation with its counterparts around the world to fight the smuggling of cocaine and crystal meth.
The move was made during an international conference hosted by the department last month. Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung told delegates leading drug cartels had turned to increasingly sophisticated methods to sidestep travel restrictions during the pandemic.
Rather than depending on travellers to smuggle drugs, syndicates were using sea and air consignments to ship even larger quantities.
In Hong Kong alone, authorities seized around 66,000kg of drugs in about 4,000 cases last year. While the number of incidents in 2022 only increased 5 per cent compared with 2020, the overall quantity of confiscated drugs surged twelvefold.
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One notable case in October involved the seizure of a record-breaking 1.8 tonnes of meth disguised as coconut water. The sea shipment from Mexico to Australia could have sold on the streets for HK$8 billion (US$1.02 billion).