Four men arrested in HK$10 million cannabis bust
Officers suspect haul was imported from abroad and was intended for sale to local users
Hong Kong police arrested four men on Sunday, seizing HK$10 million worth of cannabis.
Officers from the Narcotics Bureau ambushed a 48-year-old suspect at a car park at Chui Tin Street in Sha Tin at about noon. Inside his car, 136 packs of cannabis in nine boxes – weighing 35kg in total – were found.
Police also approached two suspects in another car park on the same street as they were boarding a seven-seater. The men tried to flee in the car and collided with a police vehicle.
The driver, 21, and his passenger were, 38, subdued and arrested. A total of 80 packs of cannabis weighing 23kg were found in the car. No one was injured.
At about 3pm, police raided a 19 square metre flat in an industrial building on Sui Wo Road in Fo Tan and arrested a 20-year-old man. The site is suspected to have been used as a storage area for the contraband.
The 58kg of cannabis seized during the first two arrests had a total estimated market value of HK$10 million. Police believed the haul was imported from abroad and was intended for sale to local users.
The four men arrested, all Hong Kong residents, have been detained. Police said the operation would be continued and further arrests were possible.
On May 16, Hong Kong police made their biggest seizure of cannabis plants since at least 1990 during raids on two factory units that were turned into indoor marijuana farms.
More than 2,000 marijuana plants and 24kg of herbal cannabis with an estimated street value of HK$38 million were confiscated from the two greenhouses in Tuen Mun and Yau Tong. Officers arrested 10 people of Vietnamese origin.
Police figures show cannabis seizures in the city surged by 96.2 per cent to 255kg last year from 130kg in 2015. Local law enforcers seized 99kg of cannabis in 2014 and 85kg in 2013.
Last year’s seizure of cannabis was the biggest since 2008, when 261kg was seized.
