South American cocaine gangs increasingly target Asia-Pacific as US and European markets become saturated
Hong Kong reports threefold rise in cocaine seizures since 2014, with much of the drug destined for an increasingly affluent market in mainland China
A push into the Asia-Pacific region by notorious South American drug cartels has seen the amount of cocaine seized in Hong Kong triple in less than two years, sources have told the Sunday Morning Post.
As traditional markets in the United States and Europe reach saturation point, some of the world’s most feared narcotics trafficking gangs are increasingly targeting the region – and an increasingly affluent China is very much on their radar.
Seizures in Hong Kong have more than tripled over the past two years. More than 440kg of cocaine was seized in the first seven months of this year, up from 130kg in the whole of 2014.
The extent of the explosion has led anti-drugs officials – including those in Hong Kong and the mainland – to put finding ways of combating the problem on the agenda at a meeting of heads of national drug law enforcement agencies in the Asia-Pacific region to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in October.
Local officials will boost intelligence exchanges and cooperation with their regional counterparts to combat the trade during the meeting, the Post has learned.
