Police seize HK $160 million worth of heroin and crystal meth

Four men were arrested for smuggling heroin and ‘ice’ worth HK$160 million, police said on Sunday.

Chan Kong-ming, acting senior superintendent of the police’s narcotics bureau, said that over 100 kilograms of heroin and approximately 10kg of crystal methamphetamine were seized in a drug bust on Saturday morning in Hung Hom.

According to police intelligence, the suspects were planning to sell the drugs after the Lunar New Year holiday. At around 7am Saturday morning, police intercepted a taxi and found 134 “heroin bricks” weighing 50 kg. Another private car suspected to be transporting the rest of the drugs hit a police vehicle before fleeing in the direction of Jordan. 

After a one-kilometer chase, the suspects in the private car abandoned the vehicle on Cox’s Road after they got stuck in traffic. Officers found 173 similar heroin bricks weighing 65kg inside the vehicle.

Then the police traced the owners of the car through the Transport Department vehicle registry and subsequently made an arrest at a flat in Hung Shui Kiu. 

“We believe that this operation has uncovered a major drug trafficking ring, and has stopped drugs from reaching the streets,” Kong said.

Kong said that two of the suspects were from the triad societies Shui Fong (Wo On Lok) and 14K. Additional arrests may follow, he added.

As for the circulation and distribution of the narcotics, Kong said the drugs were meant for local distribution in Hong Kong.

“Based on previous investigations, most of the heroin we seized comes from the Golden Triangle region (Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar),” Kong said.

There has been a 50 percent increase in seizure of heroin last year  – 534kg was confiscated, up from 368kg in 2020. With border controls remaining in place, syndicates have shifted from carrying small amounts across land border points to transporting big shipments by sea. 

Kong said that police would up their promotion and education efforts to improve citizens’ knowledge of narcotics and their effects.