Police arrested a 37-year-old Mexican man in Mong Kok on Tuesday after finding suspected crack cocaine hidden inside the stems of roses in a drug warehouse, authorities said.
Officers from the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau intercepted the man outside a unit on Sai Yeung Choi Street South and found a straw containing suspected crack cocaine on him. Inside the unit, they discovered a large quantity of roses with their stems cut, along with 165 straws containing suspected crack cocaine.
A total of about one kilogram of suspected crack cocaine worth over HK$1 million was seized.
Police believe a drug syndicate had smuggled the drugs into Hong Kong by hiding them in rose stems shipped from overseas, then extracting the drugs for local distribution.
The man will be charged with trafficking in dangerous drugs and will appear at West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts on Friday.
