Hong Kong customs officers seize more than 30kg of drugs in year’s largest airport bust
- The suspected liquid cocaine, along with other drugs seized during a related arrest, has an estimated street value of HK$45 million
- Officers find drugs concealed in red wine bottles shipped from the United States
Hong Kong’s customs officers have made their largest seizure involving inbound airborne drug shipments so far this year, bagging about HK$45 million (US$5.8 million) worth of liquid cocaine, ketamine and methamphetamine, and arresting a man in the process.
The customs department on Friday said it found about 31kg of suspected liquid cocaine concealed in 45 red wine bottles, during an inspection of an air cargo consignment arriving in the city from the United States at Hong Kong International Airport on September 7.
After an investigation, officers arrested a 40-year-old man suspected of being involved in the case in Yau Ma Tei on Thursday, seizing another 910 grams of suspected ketamine and about 520 grams of suspected methamphetamine, also known as Ice, as well as one piece of drug-taking paraphernalia.
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The seized drugs had a total estimated market value of around HK$45.3 million.
“This has broken the record of this year's largest inbound dangerous drugs case detected by customs at the airport [previously set] on June 19 in terms of seizure amount and value,” a government press release said on Friday.
In the operation in June, the department found about 25kg of suspected cocaine at the airport, which was estimated to be worth about HK$29 million on the street.
The man arrested on Thursday has been charged with two counts of trafficking in a dangerous drug and one count of possession of an apparatus fit and intended for the inhalation of a dangerous drug.
In a separate drug bust, customs officers found around 1kg of suspected cocaine concealed inside a batch of polystyrene beads when they inspected an air parcel from Canada to Hong Kong on September 5.
The items had an estimated market value of around HK$1.4 million.
A 36-year-old woman suspected of being connected to the case was arrested in Yau Ma Tei on Thursday. She has been charged with one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug.
She and the arrested man appeared at Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts on Saturday.
Under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, the maximum penalty for trafficking in a dangerous drug is a fine of HK$5 million and life imprisonment.
