Hong Kong Customs officers on Wednesday seized 680 kilograms of methamphetamine concealed in industrial heating plates worth HK$360 million ($46.3 million), taking the total amount of narcotics seized in the first two months of this year to 837 kilograms – an almost five-old year-on-year increase.
Three suspects have been arrested.
The drugs were found stacked in 80 large heating plates inside a shipping container that had arrived from Mexico at a cargo examination compound in Kwai Chung, the New Territories.
Acting on intelligence, officers had been conducting a three-week operation since Feb 10 when a 67-year-old truck driver was detained on suspicion of having been involved in transporting the container.
The operation culminated on Monday with the arrests of two more suspects in Tsuen Wan - a 45-year-old man claiming to be a driver and a 35-year-old logistics worker.
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Officers said the drugs had been taken to a Yuen Long warehouse before being transferred to an industrial building in Tsuen Wan, where the duo had allegedly tried to retrieve them.
Tsang Kin-bon, acting senior supervisor of investigations at the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department, said the drug syndicate had gone to great lengths in trying to hide the drugs by using multiple storage locations and delaying distribution to avoid detection.
Lie Yan-ning, head of ports control at the department, said that the seizure was prompted by suspicions regarding Mexico's unusual exportation of heating plates, as well as the region's previous involvement in drug concealment cases related to machinery.
“Despite the syndicate’s elaborate methods, our officers’ expertise torpedoed their plans,” he said.
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Tsang warned that drug trafficking carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of HK$5 million, and urged residents to report suspicious activities via the department’s 24-hour hotline on 1828080.
