Hong Kong police announced Thursday that they had seized a total
of 35 kilograms of cocaine and arrested a 31-year-old man in an
operation Wednesday.
The seizure, worth about 35 million HK dollars (US$4.5 million),
is the largest of its kind in local history.
Following intensive investigations into a drug trafficking
syndicate, the police narcotics bureau mounted an operation at Mong
Kok in the New Territories area.
The police intercepted the suspect while he was getting into a
private car and a block of cocaine weighing about 1.2 kilograms was
found in his possession.
A subsequent search in a residential unit led to the further
seizure of 27 blocks of cocaine weighing about 32.5 kilograms, a
pack of cocaine powder weighing 1.2 kilograms, 700 grams of
ketamine, 200 Ecstasy tablets and a large quantity of plastic
bags.
The unit is believed to be used as a drug packaging and storage
center and the drugs are for local consumption, the police
said.
Further investigations are under way. The arrested man has been
charged with one count of trafficking in dangerous drugs and will
appear in a local court Friday.
Meanwhile, the provincial public security department in
southwestern China’s Yunnan
Province announced Wednesday that 269.7 kilograms of heroin were
found in beehives on a truck in the Dai-Va Autonomous County of
Gengma.
Four suspects were arrested in the operation.
Local police received a tip on February 29 that a gang was
planning to move drugs from Myanmar into the province through
Gengma. A special team was set up to catch the traffickers.
At 3:30 AM on April 4, the police found 269.7 kilograms of
heroin, the largest quantity of drugs seized so far this year in
the country, in 63 beehives when examining a truck at Mengding Town
in the county. They arrested two suspects at the site and two
others were placed under arrest in Yunxian County and Kunming, the
provincial capital, later that day. All four suspects are from east
China’s Zhejiang Province.
Further investigations are under way, according to the
department.
Yunnan shares a 4,000-kilometer border with the notorious Golden
Triangle drug production area between Myanmar, Thailand and Laos.
It is a convenient route for drug traffickers and has been
designated by Chinese authorities as a target area for clamping
down on the influx of drugs.
(Xinhua News Agency April 16, 2004)