HONG KONG: Four suspected drug traffickers were arrested and more than 4.5kg of illegal drugs with an estimated street value of HK$750,000 confiscated in four separate cases across the city on Wednesday night.
The four Hongkongers, aged between 28 and 38, were picked up in Mong Kok, Kwai Chung, Sha Tin and Tseung Kwan O over a period of three hours.
The drugs seized were crystal meth, also known as Ice, and ketamine.
The first suspect – a 38-year-old man – was nabbed at about 7.45pm on Wednesday when officers intercepted him on Portland Street, Mong Kok and found 500 grams of what appeared to be Ice on him.
At about 9.15pm, anti-triad officers from the Eastern police district intercepted a 32-year-old man in a Kwai Fuk Road car park in Kwai Chung as he got out of his vehicle.
Police found 3.5kg of what was suspected to be ketamine on him and in his car. The haul had an estimated street value of HK$480,000.
In the third case, police found a man, 28, acting suspicious and intercepted him for a stop and search on Sha Tin Centre Street, Sha Tin at 9.30pm. Officers seized 350 grams of what appeared to be ketamine in a bag he was carrying.
About an hour later, police arrested a 28-year-old man and confiscated 350 grams of what appeared to be ketamine at Ming Tak Estate in Tseung Kwan O.
As of noon on Thursday, the four suspects were being held for questioning and had not been charged.
Police figures show seizures of ketamine rose by 140 per cent to 802kg last year, compared to 334kg in 2014. Local authorities confiscated 452kg of Ice last year, a 7.4 per cent drop compared from 488kg in the previous year.
