Three men arrested as Customs seizes 680kg of 'ice'

Customs have arrested three men and seized 680 kilograms of drug “ice” hidden in a sea-bound cargo of hot plates from Mexico, with a market value of HK$360 million.

Two of the three men will be charged with trafficking dangerous drugs and appear in court, Customs said.
According to Customs, criminals tried to evade detection by keeping the drugs in a storage unit for nearly a month before attempting to distribute them into the local market.

Customs said it first raised suspicion of the cargo as hot plates are not common goods imported from Mexico, which sits in the continent of North-Middle America, a main source of drugs.

Based on risk assessment and intelligence analysis, on February 10, officers inspected the cargo and found suspected methamphetamine hidden in the packaging of the hot plates, wrapped in aluminium foil.

A 67-year-old male driver was arrested at the inspection site, who was waiting for the cargo to be cleared by customs. 

In an effort to identify the recipients of the drugs, investigators initiated a surveillance operation, tracking the shipment to a secluded warehouse in Yuen Long.

The shipment remained in the warehouse for three weeks until last Saturday, when a client instructed it to be moved to a parking lot at an industrial building in Tsuen Wan. However, no one arrived to claim or sign for it.

Two days later, authorities arrested a 45-year-old man who turned up at the scene to move the goods into a nearby storage unit. On the same day, a 35-year-old logistician was also detained, suspected of controlling the logistics of the drugs.

Acting drug investigation group head Tsang Kin-bon described a deliberately designed strategy to evade detection by the drug trafficking syndicate.

“The syndicate acted very cautiously, first storing drugs in remote warehouse areas for an extended period in what is commonly referred to as the "cooling-off" process, then moving them to urban areas when they felt safe to do so,” Tsang said.

The two younger suspects, aged 45, and 35, will be charged with trafficking dangerous drugs.

(Jamie Liu)