Hong Kong customs officers were successful in smashing a transnational drug smuggling syndicate on Monday. Official reports say that apart from making three arrests, the agency seized around HK$30 million (US$3.8 million) stash of cocaine.
In a report from South China Morning Post, the operation was deemed the third largest cocaine raid anticipated by customs this year. While it managed to deliver the task successfully, it admits that drug smuggling continues to be a severe problem in the city.
During the first six months of this year, both the police department and customs seized a total of 355kg of cocaine. This is almost double the 180kg haul in the same period from last year.
The three individuals who were arrested are expected to appear at West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts on Thursday morning. All of them were charged with trafficking in a dangerous drug and manufacturing of a dangerous drug.
The 26kg of suspected cocaine in 36 packs was found hidden in the door rims of a 20-foot container which arrived at Kwai Chung Customhouse Cargo Examination Compound from Colombia on August 22.
According to Yahoo! News, the head of customs' ports and maritime command, Chan Tsz-tat, revealed the shipping document declared the container to be holding 1.4 tonnes of wooden baffles worth US$2,800.
The officers were suspicious of the origins, weight, and value of the declared items. Eventually, they decided to examine said container through X-ray and found out that the color around the rims of the doors was deeper.
"The items inside the container were just empty wooden boxes of poor quality instead of wooden baffles," Chan said on Wednesday. "When officers knocked on the doors, the sound was different. The rims were completely sealed and we were not able to find anything. We passed the case to the customs drug investigation bureau for further investigation."
Hong Kong customs began tailing the container to a metal shack in Yuen Long, the location where its officers arrested the 32-year-old driver, a 52-year-old South American man, and another 32-year-old local man.
Later on, the department seized 1kg of suspected crack cocaine and drug production tools found at a Mong Kok flat. The latter was reportedly thought to be a drug manufacturing center.
Lee Kam-wing, who is the acting head of the drug investigation bureau, believed the drug was intended for local consumption. "The situation of smuggling cocaine into Hong Kong is indeed getting serious," he said.
