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Customs Drugs Investigation Bureau yesterday (January 3) smashed a drugs syndicate suspected of running two greenhouses at a residential unit in Tin Shui Wai and a hut in Pat Heung for planting cannabis buds.
Officers arrested two men aged 37 and 34 and seized 383 pots of cannabis plants, 10 kilograms of herbal cannabis and three kilograms of ketamine, worth about $6 million on the market.
Customs officers estimated that the cannabis plants could produce 10 kilograms of cannabis buds.
They believed the seized dangerous drugs were intended for distribution at entertainment venues in West Kowloon.
About 4pm yesterday, Customs officers intercepted a Hong Kong man, 37, outside residential premises in Tin Shui Wai and found one kilogram of ketamine. After searching the home, Customs officers found 26 pots of cannabis plant seedlings and two kilograms of ketamine.
Customs officers also smashed another greenhouse used for cultivating cannabis buds in a village hut at Tin Sam Cheung Po Village, Pat Heung, and seized 357 pots of cannabis plants, 10 kilograms of herbal cannabis and a batch of solar lamps and some planting tools. A 34-year-old man was arrested.
The two men will be charged with cultivating cannabis plants and trafficking in a dangerous drug and will appear in Tuen Mun Magistrates’ Courts tomorrow (January 5).
Customs will closely monitor the drug trafficking situation before the Lunar New Year and step up enforcement to combat activities involving dangerous drugs.
Under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, drug trafficking is a serious offence with maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of $5 million.
Ends/Thursday, January 4, 2007
Issued at HKT 18:40
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