Three arrested as Hong Kong police seize estimated HK$42 million worth of drugs from Yuen Long flat

Police seized an estimated HK$42 million (US$5.4 million) worth of illegal drugs in a raid on a manufacturing plant operating from a flat in Hong Kong’s New Territories.

Three suspects were rounded up in an operation by the police’s Narcotics Bureau at a low-density private estate in Yuen Long on Friday night.

Acting on intelligence, a man, 40, and woman, 25, were stopped by officers hiding outside the flat, police said. Cocaine was seized from the man. Inside the flat, a larger haul of drugs was found.

In the raid, a total of 34kg of cocaine, 2kg of crack cocaine, 1.6kg of heroin and 500 grams of ketamine worth an estimated HK$42 million was recovered.

Drug making equipment and packaging materials were also seized.

Another man, 40, was arrested inside the flat.

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The three suspects were each charged with one count of drug manufacturing and one count of drug trafficking and would appear in Tuen Mun Court on Monday.

Trafficking in a dangerous drug carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a HK$5 million fine.

Separately, customs at Hong Kong International Airport recovered about 2.2kg of liquid cocaine with an estimated market value of HK$2.6 million from two female visitors on Saturday.

Two arrested and 30kg of cocaine seized in raid on mini-storage facility

The pair, aged 36 and 38, arrived from Sao Paulo, Brazil, through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. They were found to be acting suspiciously while clearing customs and were escorted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Yau Ma Tei. The women discharged the drugs, packed in small bags, from their bodies.

The pair were detained.

According to official statistics, local authorities seized 355kg of cocaine across the city in the first six months of this year, a 97.2 per cent rise from 180kg in the same period last year.