HONG KONG: Hong Kong is becoming a transportation center for the smuggling of illegal drug methamphetamine as the seizures of ice drug have gone triple than before which is a threat for Hong Kong’s reputation.
But the government has always rejected claims that Hong Kong is among the world’s major places for the transit of drugs. Statistics released by customs and police show 357 kilograms of ice were seized between January and October last year, up 122 kg from the same period in 2013. There were 216 cases of ice seizures and 136 people were arrested.
The latest figures show an alarming trend in recent years, with just 44kg seized by the authorities in 2011 and 50kg in 2012.
A spokesman for the Customs and Excise Department said the increase was due to a recent upsurge of drug smuggling through transshipment express parcels from the mainland to overseas.
“Most drug seizures were concealed inside or camouflaged as commercial commodities such as water filters, tea leaves or shampoos,” he said.
“Hong Kong customs will always stay alert and step up our anti-narcotics enforcement to combat new trafficking trends.”
Customs seized a whopping 104kg of ice worth HK$42 million at Chek Lap Kok airport on December 9, the biggest bust in nearly a decade. The drugs were detected in five transit express cargo consignments from the mainland bound for Malaysia via Hong Kong.
They were declared as containing water filters but customs officers cut open the metal cylinders to find drugs inside.
Police also seized 51kg of ice worth HK$22 million during a raid at a Lok Ma Chau village house on October 15. But police senior superintendent Ko Shun-chi denied Hong Kong has become a transit hub for drugs despite the increase in seizures last year. The record for a single ice bust was 192kg in 2005.
The figures did not include a spate of busts in November and December.
A 48-year-old man and a 55-year- old woman were arrested at the airport on December 21 after customs officers found about 2.4kg of ice with a market value of HK$1 million. The pair were about to depart for Sydney, Australia, before they were intercepted.
