Hong Kong Customs successfully smashed a sophisticated methamphetamine manufacturing centre and a storage centre on July 14 with five persons arrested. About 70kg of methamphetamine, 70 litres of liquidised methamphetamine and 200 litres of semi-processed liquidised methamphetamine worth about $175 million were seized. A large amount of chemicals and equipment were also found. This was the first time Hong Kong Customs had detected a methamphetamine manufacturing case and the largest one of its kind.
Through intelligence exchange, Hong Kong Customs launched an anti-narcotics operation codenamed "Snow Fox" in mid-June and carried out in-depth investigations on a drug trafficking syndicate.
On the afternoon of July 14, officers of Customs' Drug Investigation Bureau took action and smashed a methamphetamine manufacturing centre in a unit of an industrial building in Kwai Tsing. Some 70 litres of liquidised methamphetamine and 200 litres of semi-processed liquidised methamphetamine, which could be converted into about 160kg of methamphetamine worth about $122 million, were seized. A large amount of methamphetamine manufacturing equipment and chemical raw materials were also found. Two men, including the suspected mastermind of the syndicate and one believed to be involved in the manufacturing process, were arrested at the scene.
The officers subsequently took a series of enforcement actions and searched three more locations including a unit in another industrial building in Kwai Tsing, a hotel room and a residential flat. Three more persons, including two men and a woman, were arrested and about 70kg of methamphetamine, worth about $53 million, and a large amount of chemical raw materials were seized.
The five arrested persons, aged between 25 and 60, will be charged with manufacturing a dangerous drug or trafficking in a dangerous drug and will appear at Tsuen Wan Magistrates' Courts tomorrow (July 17).
Under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, manufacturing and trafficking of dangerous drugs are serious offences. The maximum penalty is life imprisonment and a fine of $5 million.
Ends/Friday, July 16, 2010
