Hong Kong customs seizes liquid cocaine worth HK$490 million disguised as white wine in shipment from Brazil in biggest bust of the drug in 20 years
- Two local men arrested in connection with haul, which weighed 444kg and was hidden in ocean container sent from Brazil
- Discovery pushes total weight of all types of illegal drugs seized last year to record of nearly 9.5 tonnes
Hong Kong customs officers have seized a record HK$490 million (US$62.6 million) worth of liquid cocaine disguised as white wine that arrived in an ocean container sent from Brazil.
The 444kg haul (979lbs), discovered in December, brought the total weight of all types of illegal drugs found last year to nearly 9.5 tonnes, also a record for any single year in more than two decades, Senior Superintendent Wong Ho-yin of the customs’ drug investigation bureau on Monday said.
Authorities seized 37 per cent more narcotics last year compared with the previous annual record of 6.9 tonnes set the year before.
The Customs and Excise Department on Monday revealed the latest haul was hidden in a shipment of 706 boxes of red and white wine, as well as juice, that arrived in the city on December 19. Two local men were arrested in connection with the case over the weekend.
The container was taken to the Kwai Chung Customhouse Cargo Examination Compound for inspection after arriving from Brazil, a country designated as “high-risk” based on past seizures.
Signs of resealing were found on 37 out of the 706 wine boxes, according to Assistant Superintendent Jacky Tsang Kin-bon of the bureau. Each of the 37 boxes was supposed to have carried four three-litre white wine bags. Tsang said samples tested positive for cocaine.
“A total of 444kg of suspected liquid cocaine was discovered in the 37 boxes,” he said. “The estimated street value of the haul is about HK$490 million.”
Senior Superintendent Wong said the haul was the largest in terms of value and weight for liquid cocaine since records began more than 20 years ago.
Superintendent Lui Chi-tak of customs’ ports and maritime command said that “drug traffickers took every effort and deployed sophisticated methods to conceal the narcotic in an attempt to evade customs detection”.
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Plain-clothes officers from the bureau sent the container to a designated location in Yuen Long on December 19 as part of their operation, but no one turned up to collect it.
The container was returned to a Kwai Chung yard run by a logistics company and placed under round-the-clock surveillance by customs officers while authorities waited for instructions from its consignee.
On Monday last week, a 50-year-old man suddenly turned up at the Kwai Chung location to collect the cargo.
A truck that transported the container to an outdoor car park in Tsing Yi was tracked by plain-clothes officers in unmarked cars. But no one opened the container or collected the goods.
After gathering evidence, customs officers arrested a 38-year-old man in Yuen Long and the 50-year-old man in Kwai Chung on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
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Tsang said the younger man was allegedly responsible for arranging maritime transport to deliver the cargo from Brazil to Hong Kong, while the other was accused of helping to collect and store the drugs. The pair were still being held for questioning as of Monday afternoon.
In Hong Kong, trafficking in a dangerous drug is punishable by up to life in jail and a HK$5 million fine.
Tsang said the investigation revealed the consignment was intended for the city’s underground market to meet the festive season demand.
“We believe the drug trafficking syndicate tried to take advantage of the busy logistics services before the Christmas and New Year holidays to smuggle the narcotic into the city and evade detection,” he said.
He did not rule out further arrests and said an investigation to determine the origin of the illegal drug and the cargo’s consignor and consignee was under way.
“Customs will continue to use its professionalism and determination to prevent illegal drugs from being smuggled into the city, thereby safeguarding the country’s southern gateway,” Senior Superintendent Wong said.
