Peruvian baker who taught 2 men how to ‘cook’ cocaine in a Hong Kong luxury flat jailed for nearly 24 years
- More than HK$105 million worth of the drug was seized from the unit in 2017
- Three Hongkongers also receive long jail terms for their roles in the case
A Peruvian baker who came to Hong Kong to teach two locals how to manufacture cocaine has been jailed for close to 24 years, in a case which saw police seizing more than HK$105 million (US$13.5 million) worth of the dangerous drug.
The case saw the largest haul of raw drug materials in 10 years and police believed it was the first time that a luxury flat had been used as a base for manufacturing when Casado Montalvo Omar Esteban, 40, and three Hongkongers were arrested on site.
Police had searched their four-bedroom unit in Uptown, Yuen Long on November 10, 2017 to find metal tanks, buckets of white powder and liquid mixture, and carton boxes of suspected drugs.
Government chemists found 16,319.76 grams of cocaine, in both solid and liquid form. Their estimated street value at the time was HK$105.9 million as powder, or HK$157.4 million as crack cocaine.
All four men later pleaded guilty to the charge of manufacturing a dangerous drug, which was punishable by life imprisonment and a maximum fine of HK$5 million.
Lawyers defending the baker said he had accepted the job in Peru after he was promised a sum of US$10,000 he needed to support his four children and clear debts.