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Hong Kong Customs Airport Command stepped up operations against drug trafficking activities by air cargoes or air mail parcels last month and seized about five kilogrammes of dangerous drugs with a total value of about $4.5 million in five major cases.
In the operations, Airport Command officers seized several kinds of dangerous drugs, including heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine (Ice). The cases involved transnational drug syndicates adopting diverse routes to ship their cargoes from Africa, South America and other Southeast Asian countries to Hong Kong or exported air parcels from Hong Kong to other places. The drugs were concealed inside the air cargoes or parcels with sophisticated concealment methods to evade Customs inspection.
In one of the cases, the drugs were concealed inside the hollow part of a metal gear which was perfectly welded. Customs officers found the x-ray images suspicious and finally uncovered the drugs by cutting the wheel by a saw.
In two other cases, the drug syndicates laminated the cocaine into stripes before sewing them onto the lining of some sheep-skin cushions or concealed the drugs inside the layers of some brand-new handbags.
The drug syndicate in another case tried to hide heroin inside a bottle of hair cream with an aim to confusing drug detector dogs with the smell of the hair cream. In addition, dangerous drugs concealed inside a video game machine were found by Customs officers who discovered that the packaging and weight of the machine were abnormal.
A Customs spokesperson said today (September 2) that officers have strengthened enforcement actions in combating cross-boundary drug trafficking activities at air cargo and air mail terminals to prevent drug trafficking amid the flourishing air cargo flow in the Hong Kong International Airport. Hong Kong Customs will continue to take anti-narcotics efforts strenuously with the aid of hi-tech equipments, intelligence analysis, risk management and international cooperation.
Under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, the maximum penalty of drug trafficking is life imprisonment and a fine of $5 million.
Ends/Monday, September 2, 2013
Issued at HKT 22:54
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