Hong Kong customs officers in terrorist drug bust as they seize HK$245 million shipment of ‘chemical courage’
- Officials find 1.57 million tablets in container heading to Saudi Arabia from Syria
- Drugs popular with Isis fighters and bust is biggest of its kind in Hong Kong’s history
A HK$245 million shipment of a terrorist drug nicknamed “chemical courage” has been seized in Hong Kong, officials revealed on Wednesday.
In the biggest such bust in the city’s history, customs officials found 1.57 million fenethylline tablets when they searched a suspicious container full of furniture being shipped to Saudi Arabia from Syria, via Hong Kong and mainland China.
The pills contain amphetamine as an active ingredient, and are popular with Isis fighters looking to stay alert in battle. The drug causes a sense of euphoria, impairs judgement, and over the long term can lead to extreme depression and tiredness.
Customs and Excise Department officers made the discovery on November 8 at the Kwai Chung Customhouse Cargo Examination Compound.
“The shipment manifest declared it was a furniture product consignment. Upon inspection, customs officers found the batch of suspected drugs concealed beneath the seat base of 84 sofas,” the department said in a statement.
“Further investigation revealed the drugs were not for the local market. It is believed the drug trafficking syndicate made a circuitous routing of different stops in an attempt to escape from the law enforcement agencies, by transporting the drugs from the Middle East and back to the same region.
“The drug has been exploited by criminal groups for profit-generating purposes.”
Syria is a major amphetamines exporter and also consumer, as the synthetic drugs can keep jihadists on their feet, and selling it generates money for more weapons.
A Hong Kong government source said the drugs were in no way related to the anti-government protest movement in the city, and “the contraband was only transiting through Hong Kong”. No arrests had been made so far, the source said.
“It caught our attention as it made such an unnecessary detour for a shipment originating from Syria to the Saudi Peninsula. So our officers inspected the shipment,” the source added.
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The insider said each synthetic pill costs around US$20 and smugglers use complicated trafficking routes to try to avoid being caught, with law enforcement agencies around the world engaged in a tough battle against the drugs.
According to a registered pharmacist, William Chui Chun-Ming, who is also president of The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Hong Kong, the drug keeps users awake for long periods of time and is highly addictive.
“It creates a sense of euphoria and impairs judgment. Overuse can cause extreme depression and tiredness,” he said.
He said while amphetamines were abused in Hong Kong, fenethylline was also popular in the Middle East, especially in Saudi Arabia.
In July, Greek authorities seized what they described as the world’s largest single haul of supercharged amphetamine Captagon pills shipped from Syria, worth more than half a billion euros. Enforcement officers seized three containers containing 5.25 tonnes of the drug, about 33 million pills.
