Hong Kong police make biggest hard drug bust of year as HK$170 million of Ice, heroin and ketamine found hidden inside soft-drink bottles at Fanling factory
- Massive seizure continues ‘worrying’ surge of large-scale drug busts that has seen four hauls this year top HK$100 million a piece
- The amount of heroin and Ice confiscated by police in first six months of the year had already topped all of 2018 and 2019 combined
Hong Kong police have made their largest seizure of dangerous drugs this year, swooping on a factory building in Fanling, where a haul worth more than HK$170 million (US$22 million) was hidden inside soft-drink bottles.
Two men, aged 27 and 33, who police said were members of a transnational drug syndicate have been arrested and charged with drug trafficking.
Officers from the Narcotics Bureau raided a flat in a factory building in the industrial area at On Lok Tsuen in Fanling on Thursday, when they found a total of 178kg of heroin, Ice – or crystal methamphetamine – and ketamine concealed in 305 soft-drink bottles.
The bottles were hidden among 1,000 boxes containing more than 10,000 bottles, with 88kg of Ice found in 150 bottles, 82kg of heroin in 143, and 8kg of ketamine in 12.
The two arrested men, both from countries in South Asia, were intercepted as they moved goods from the flat, according to police. An initial investigation showed they had no triad backgrounds.
