Grand haul: Hong Kong police seized 335kg of solid Ice and 55kg of cocaine during the operation. — South China Morning Post
PETALING JAYA: A 26-year-old Malaysian man has been arrested after Hong Kong police busted the largest methamphetamine operation there when it seized HK$210mil (RM116mil) of the drug that was concealed in furniture.
Acting Supt Cheung Hok-fung of the force’s narcotics bureau said that suspected substances – 335kg of solid Ice as well as 55kg of cocaine – were found in 25 out of the 245 boxes.
“The drugs were discovered in a shipping container that arrived from the United States to Hong Kong on Tuesday,” he said, South China Morning Post reported.
Meanwhile, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said Bukit Aman was aware of the arrest.
“We are working with our counterparts in Hong Kong on the matter.
“The suspect lived in Sungai Besi and had prior records for drug possession and inserting drugs into his body,” the IGP said when contacted.
According to Cheung, the syndicate had requested a logistics company to pick up the containers and transfer the goods to a warehouse in Yuen Long on Thursday. However, the police raided the warehouse on the same day and found the suspect unboxing the goods, adding that gloves and electronic scales were found within the place.
Cheung said that the Malaysian suspect had entered the city as a tourist a year ago to plan the trafficking operation.
“He has been charged with one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug and is set to appear in Tuen Mun Court,” Cheung added.
Hong Kong Senior Inspector Tong Wai-kwok, meanwhile, said that a syndicate based in Malaysia had been recruiting foreigners to traffic drugs and had broken their smuggling operations into smaller parts to evade detection.
“We believe that the syndicate in Malaysia has been recruiting its residents to go to Hong Kong repeatedly for drug trafficking,” he said.
Tong also highlighted that the syndicate was exploiting the global logistics industry for their criminal activities, urging companies to be cautious of customers providing vague information.
Under Hong Kong law, drug trafficking is punishable by a HK$5mil (RM2.75mil) fine and life imprisonment.
