Two arrested at airport for trafficking drugs worth over HK$10 million

Police arrested two people at the Hong Kong International Airport for drug trafficking.

Officers said on Sunday that drug syndicates have been using the lure of free travel and cash rewards to attract recruits to traffick drugs from overseas to Hong Kong.

After the investigation, the police mounted an operation with Customs last Friday (Nov 17) and intercepted a man and woman returning from Thailand.

Officers found 41 bricks of heroin, weighing 14.35 kg, along with around four grams of cannabis in their luggage. A total of drugs worth HK$11 million were seized.

The duo were arrested on suspicion of trafficking in dangerous drugs.

The arrested man is a 19-year-old Thai teenager born and raised in Hong Kong; the other is an 18-year-old local woman.

Law enforcement believed that the two were recruited and arranged by a drug syndicate to receive drugs in Thailand and bring them back to Hong Kong for selling.

The two are currently remanded under police custody for investigation and were charged with trafficking in dangerous drugs. The case will be heard at the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts tomorrow (Nov 20).

Police believed they had successfully intercepted the entire batch of drugs involved in the case and the inflow of them to local markets.

The reward for drug trafficking and its original source are still under investigation.