Drug dealers offering Hong Kong youngsters free narcotics to recruit them as traffickers, police warn
- Police wrap up two-week operation that led to 107 arrests, with youngest suspect being 14 years old
- ‘When young people become unable to afford illegal drugs, they subsequently become tools for drug dealers to traffic narcotics,’ police warn
Hong Kong drug dealers are offering teenagers as young as 14 free narcotics, getting them hooked and then recruiting them as traffickers, police have warned.
Acting chief inspector Chu Siu-lun of the force’s narcotics bureau also revealed on Friday that a two-week operation led to 107 arrests and the seizure of HK$27 million (US$3.45 million) worth of illegal drugs.
The youngest suspect caught in the operation, which ran from December 20 to Wednesday, was a 14-year-old girl who was detained on suspicion of possessing cannabis oil and an electronic smoking device, he said. Chu said a preliminary investigation suggested the cannabis oil was given to the teenager for free.
“It is a disgraceful common practice for drug dealers to recruit young people by providing them with free narcotics, leading them to develop drug addictions,” he said.
“When young people become unable to afford illegal drugs, they subsequently become tools for drug dealers to traffic narcotics and face their own legal consequences.”
He warned that young people would have to bear the legal consequences once convicted and have a criminal record for life.
In Hong Kong, trafficking in a dangerous drug is punishable by up to life in prison and a HK$5 million fine.