Man arrested for trying to smuggle ketamine within metal air purifier filters

A man is set to appear at West Kowloon court on Friday after being found to have attempted to smuggle HK$9.4 million worth of ketamine in metal filters of an air purifier on Wednesday afternoon.

Yesterday (May 8), police officers intercepted a 26-year-old man named Tang at an industrial building in Kwai Chung and proceeded to investigate the unit that he came out of.

In the unit, they found 1.8 kilograms of suspected ketamine on the floor, one cylinder-shaped metal filter that was cut open, and a batch of cutting and packing tools.

In addition, officers were also able to find a large air purifier with 11 metal filters inside.

During a later inspection, an additional 19.8 kilograms of suspected ketamine was found inside the metal filter sticks.

A total of 21.6 kilograms of ketamine with a market value of HK$9.4 million was seized during the operation.

The man was charged with trafficking in dangerous drugs and will appear at West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts tomorrow (May 10).

It is understood that the man, who claimed to be unemployed, had a debt of HK$200,000 and participated in the trafficking operation after being promised some cash rewards.

An investigation revealed that the large air filter machine that hid the suspected ketamine was transported from Europe to Hong Kong to avoid detection.

Once it entered Hong Kong, it was then transported to a drug storage facility with the assistance of a legal courier in order to decrease the risk of detection.

Police spokesman stated that they believe that during this operation they were able to intercept the drugs at the source and avoid a large amount of drugs from entering the market.