Customs officers seize US$9.8 million of crystal meth from Mexico in drugs bust at Hong Kong International Airport
- Customs and Excise Department launched raid on December 5 and found 110kg (243lb) of drug in cargo terminal
- Officials are investigating if drug was destined for Japan or Australia
Customs officers in Hong Kong have recovered HK$77 million (US$9.8 million) worth of crystal meth in a cargo shipment airmailed from Mexico via Alaska, their largest such seizure since 2010.
The 110kg (243lb) haul of the drug, also known as Ice or methamphetamine, could have been worth six times more in other countries, such as Japan and Australia, sources told the Post.
According to the Customs and Excise Department, the drugs were found hidden inside three cartons at Hong Kong International Airport’s cargo terminal on December 5, after officials exchanged information with their counterparts in Alaska.
Philip Chan Siu-kau of the department’s Drug Investigation Bureau said the consignment was declared as containing plastic resin, which raised suspicions because resin rarely arrives from Mexico and is costly to deliver.
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Officers selected it for inspection, whereupon an X-ray examination returned suspicious images.
Inside each carton, under a layer of plastic resin, customs officers found another box containing 40 plastic cases in cling film, stuffed in two layers of vacuum-sealed bags.
Chu Ka-wing, of Customs’ air cargo group, said fabric softener had been placed between the layers to mask the smell given off by the crystal meth.
“We believe the drug traffickers intended to make use of the aroma to evade frontline officers’ detection and distract customs’ detective dogs from sniffing the drug,” she said.
She said each plastic case contained 920 grams of crystal meth. There were 120 cases in total, making a total of about 110kg of the drug.
“It is our biggest ever seizure of methamphetamine found at a control point,” Chan said, adding that it was their largest methamphetamine trafficking case since 2010.
Back then, officers closed down a drug factory and seized HK$175 million worth of crystal meth.
Chan believed some of the meth in the recent case was for local consumption, but most was destined for other countries.
He said the department was working with overseas law enforcement agencies to identify the syndicate behind the haul. No one had been arrested.
In June, Japanese authorities seized one tonne of crystal meth worth HK$4.35 billion and arrested seven suspected drug traffickers including several Hongkongers in the country.
In Hong Kong, the retail price of meth has increased from HK$550,000 per kilogram on the underground market earlier this year to HK$700,000/kg, according to one law enforcement source.
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Last year the Post reported that a massive crackdown on crystal meth factories in Guangdong province over the past two years had forced Hong Kong drug dealers to find new suppliers.
The source said this year, there was an increasing amount of Ice concealed in parcels and airmailed into the city from Malaysia, Africa and Mexico.
He said the new trend had led customs officers to step up the inspection of inbound parcels, and boost intelligence exchange and cooperation with their overseas counterparts.
According to official statistics, local authorities seized 359kg (791 pounds) of crystal meth in 2018, up 149 per cent from 144kg (317 pounds) in 2017.
