ID check leads to seizure of HK$7 million worth of heroin in Hong Kong flat
- Officers arrested two suspects in connection with the heroin bust on Tai Nan Street in Mong Kok
- Separately, police also arrested a man in connection with 28kg of crystal meth and 6.5kg of ketamine found in a Sha Tin flat
A routine identity check on a 19-year-old Hong Kong man led to the seizure of HK$7 million (US$897,000) worth of narcotics in Mong Kok on Sunday night.
Police officers from the emergency unit asked the man for his ID after finding him acting suspicious outside a block of flats on Tai Nan Street in Mong Kok, according to the force.
The man was brought to a flat inside the building, where officers found another man and 5.5kg of suspected heroin.
“The haul has an estimated street value of HK$7 million,” police said in a statement.
Hong Kong customs seizes HK$140 million worth of cocaine, arrests 2
Officers arrested the two men on suspicion of drug trafficking – an offence punishable by up to life imprisonment and a HK$5 million fine.
As of Monday morning, the two suspects were still being held for questioning and had not been charged. Detectives from the Mong Kok criminal investigation unit are handling the case.
Separately, officers from the narcotics bureau on Friday arrested a 27-year-old man and seized 28kg of crystal meth and 6.5kg of ketamine, along with packaging equipment, in a Sha Tin flat. The haul had an estimated street value of more than HK$20 million.
In Hong Kong, seizures of five major illegal drugs – cocaine, cannabis, crystal meth, heroin and ketamine – more than doubled to 10,627kg last year.
Local authorities confiscated 3,296kg of ketamine in 2021, up nearly 600 per cent from 471kg in 2020. Seizures of cocaine also rose by 128 per cent to 2,895kg in 2021, up from 1,269kg in the previous year.
