Hong Kong police seize $83 million worth of cocaine and cannabis

Hong Kong police seized HK$650 million worth of cocaine and cannabis in the largest haul uncovered this year, the South China Morning Post reports. Authorities arrested four men aged between 25 and 32 on suspicion of drug trafficking.

In a three-day operation that concluded last Friday, the Hong Kong Drug Enforcement Agency seized a whopping 592kg of suspected cocaine and 91.2kg of cannabis buds valued at the equivalent of $82.97 million.

There are dozens of lists on the internet of the craziest drug smuggling places, from breast implants to sharks. This loot also included a relative of the latter. Many of the substances were hidden in boxes of frozen fish to avoid detection as the smell could help mask that of the cannabis buds (which obviously didn’t work).

“The cannabis flower buds confiscated this time were stored among frozen fish,” Chief Inspector Charm Yiu-kwong said in a press conference. “We believe the drug cartel used this method … to mask the smell of marijuana with the pungent odor of the frozen fish.”

The bureau on Wednesday set an ambush on a drug syndicate at two industrial buildings in Kwun Tong, on How Ming Street and Wai Yip Street, according to Chief Inspector Law Kai-yin. They stopped a 32-year-old man, a construction worker surnamed So, as he exited the industrial complex on How Ming Street. They discovered 120 packs of cocaine, each weighing one kilogram, and arrested him on alleged drug dealing charges, Law said.

The maximum penalty for drug trafficking in Hong Kong is life imprisonment.

In addition, police stopped two men, a 25-year-old surnamed Chan and another 31-year-old named Leung. They led her to 91.2 kg of cannabis at the Wai Yip Street warehouse. The two men, one of whom was in the kitchen and the other on the construction site, were also arrested on suspicion of drug dealing. After searching several nearby warehouses believed to be controlled by the same group, investigators seized 472 packages of cocaine, each weighing 1kg.

The fourth man arrested is Chong, 32, who is currently unemployed. When he tried to flee Hong Kong, he was arrested by the authorities. At least some of the four men are said to be linked to a triad drug trafficking group and are due to appear in Kwun Tong District Court on Saturday.

Hong Kong authorities are trying to link another case two weeks ago involving 227kg of cocaine that led to the arrest of 10 suspects. On Thursday, Hong Kong customs officials arrested a 20-year-old man on suspicion of drug trafficking after they found about 3kg of suspected cocaine and 26g of alleged crack cocaine, valued at HK$3.3 million, at an apartment in Tai Koo becomes.

As the bureau’s senior superintendent Chan Kong-ming said, Hong Kong is ramping up efforts to crack down on drug arrests, with a particular focus on cocaine. “Recently, production of coca leaf in South American countries has continued to increase, leading to a corresponding reduction in the cost of manufacturing cocaine,” he said, reports the South China Morning Post. “The Drug Enforcement Agency has stepped up intelligence gathering about the risk of more cocaine flowing into Hong Kong as a result of lower prices.”

However, Chan goes on to say, as a publicist, that drug smuggling and use in Hong Kong is “broadly under control” and he didn’t expect an uptick locally.

As early as 2020, the Chinese government imposed the draconian National Security Law (NSL) on Hong Kong, with so-called “devastating human rights consequences”.