Customs seize HK$20m worth of drugs, arrest three

Hong Kong Customs seized 29 kilograms of methamphetamine and 12 kilograms of cannabis buds hidden in air freight parcels in five different seizures with an estimated market value of about HK$20 million at Hong Kong International Airport from July to October this year, arresting three local men.   

The five seizures were made as officers noticed the cargo descriptions did not match the X-ray findings, Senior Investigator of the Customs Drug Investigation Bureau Tsang Yau-chuen said, noting drug-trafficking syndicates would mark drug packages as different goods.   

An air freight package reported as guitar tuners arriving from the United States was seized on October 3. Officers opened the box and found trumpets rather than guitar tuners, with 12 kilograms of methamphetamine hidden beneath the instruments.

After inspecting the receiver's address on the package, officers deployed raids in Hung Hom and North Point to arrest three local men, aged between 40 and 41, during the operations on October 8.   

Officers further discovered two other batches of goods dispatched from the United States by the same sender and intercepted the packages with five kilograms of methamphetamine inside two printers and a trumpet.

The third case, which occurred on July 31, according to Yau Kin-wai, Investigator of the Customs Drug Investigation Bureau, involved a batch of boxes containing 270 bags of facial masks delivered from Thailand, which officers detected had been soaked in 13 kilograms of liquid methamphetamine.   

Another two batches of goods shipped from the United States to Kwai Chung, falsely reported to be Chinese tea, were, in fact, found to be 12 kilograms of cannabis buds.   

The Three arrestees, who formerly worked as a truck driver, a company manager, and a logistic company owner, are on bail pending trial, with the deeper investigation into the five cases still ongoing. The Customs officer did not rule out the possibility of more arrests.