HONG KONG: Hong Kong police arrested three people and closed a marijuana growing operation in the New Territories here the other day, their third in a fortnight.
Officers seized 530 marijuana plants along with 3.5kg of cannabis buds, as well as plant-cultivation equipment from the three-storey grow house in Pat Heung.
The plants were capable of producing 38kg of cannabis, estimated to be worth HK$5 million, police said. The buds they seized had an estimated street value of HK$580,000.
Officers from the force’s Narcotics Bureau began investigating the grow house after receiving a tip.
Officers arrested a 48-year-old man during the Monday afternoon raid on the house at Ngau Keng Tsuen off Kam Sheung Road.
“Plants were housed in bedrooms that were fitted with solar lights and a ventilation system,” a police source said. “All the windows were closed and covered to prevent outsiders from looking into the house.”
The source said the plants were in different sizes and some were fully grown.
“We are still investigating how long the illegal farm had been in operation and whether the finished products are for local consumption,” he said.
In a follow-up raid in Wong Tai Sin, police arrested a man, 53, and a woman, 51, in connection with the case.
The two men were charged last night for cultivating cannabis plants, and one of them, the 48-year-old, also faces an illegal immigration charge. Both will appear at Tuen Mun Court today.
The site is about 3.5km away from a village house in Lo Uk Tsuen off Kam Tin Road where police arrested two suspected triad members and confiscated 276 cannabis plants on July 30.
Officers seized another 64 cannabis plants from a house rented by one of the two suspects off Lung Kwu Tan Road in Tuen Mun on the same day.
Police are investigating whether the three growing operations were controlled by the same syndicate.
Last month’s raid was part of a three-month, cross-border operation against organised crime. The annual operation, codenamed Thunderbolt 15, is aimed at combating triad activities and will end next month.
Cannabis seizures rose 48 per cent to 83kg in the first six months of this year, from 56kg during the same period last year, police figures showed.
