Hong Kong Customs yesterday (October 24) detected two drug trafficking case involving internal concealment and baggage concealment respectively at Hong Kong International Airport. About 826 grams of suspected cocaine and about 7 kilograms of suspected heroin were seized with a total estimated market value of about $7 million.
The first case involved a 50-year-old male passenger who arrived in Hong Kong from Sao Paulo, Brazil, via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, yesterday. During customs clearance, Customs officers found him to be suspicious and suspected that he had dangerous drugs concealed inside his body cavity. He was then escorted to the hospital for examination.
Upon examination, the man was confirmed by a doctor to have foreign objects concealed inside his body cavity. He was arrested immediately. As at 3pm today (October 25), the arrested man has excreted 59 pellets of suspected cocaine weighing about 826g in total.
The second case involved three local men, aged between 24 and 28. The first arrested man arrived in Hong Kong from Bangkok, Thailand, yesterday. During customs clearance, about 7kg of suspected heroin were found concealed inside his check-in baggage. The man was subsequently arrested.
After a follow-up investigation, two local men suspected to be connected with the case were arrested at the airport last night.
Investigations of both cases are ongoing.
Following the resumption of normal travel and exchanges with the Mainland and other parts of the world, the number of visitors to Hong Kong has also been increasing steadily. Customs will continue to apply a risk assessment approach and focus on selecting passengers from high-risk regions for clearance to combat transnational drug trafficking activities.
Under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, trafficking in a dangerous drug is a serious offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $5 million and life imprisonment.
Members of the public may report any suspected drug trafficking activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002/).
Ends/Wednesday, October 25, 2023
