HK man nabbed in $638m Sydney crystal meth bust

Christine Tang

and Toby Ng

A 24-year-old Hong Kong man was arrested and 142 kilograms of the drug ice worth HK$638.3 million were seized in a joint Hong Kong and Australia operation.

Hong Kong narcotics bureau officers launched an investigation into a transnational organization at the end of last month and found a 24-year-old local, Chan, had been deployed to Australia to traffick and produce drugs since July.

The force immediately gave the Australian Federal Police the heads-up.

That led, on November 3, to a raid on a residential unit in Oxley Park, Sydney, and the seizure of the crystal methamphetamine, a batch of chemicals and drug manufacturing tools.

The market value of seized drugs is A$126 million.

"We will continue to actively exchange intelligence with the Australian police to track down the mastermind and other group members. There may be more arrests," a Hong Kong police spokesman said.

Police also found some drug syndicates are dangling free travel or cash rewards to lure people into drug trafficking.

On Friday, officers at the airport intercepted a man and woman who had just returned from Thailand with 41 bricks of heroin weighing a total of 14.35 kilograms in their luggage, and about four grams of marijuana in the woman's backpack. The total value of the seized drugs was around HK$11 million.

A 19-year-old Thai man who was born and raised in Hong Kong and an 18-year-old local woman were arrested on suspicion of trafficking dangerous drugs.

Police believe they were recruited by a drug trafficking syndicate to receive the drugs in Thailand and bring them back.

The two are still being detained for investigation and will appear in a West Kowloon magistrates' court today.

Police are still investigating exactly how much reward the two received, but it is believed to be less than HK$100,000.