Sun 30 October 2022:
Authorities in Hong Kong announced on Saturday that they had seized a shipment of methamphetamine coming from Mexico that was worth roughly 1.1 billion Hong Kong dollars ($140 million).
A record-breaking 1.8 tonnes of liquid meth concealed in cartons of coconut water was discovered by customs officers while being transported to Australia.
The shipment comes as the Chinese financial hub experiences an increase in meth-related drug busts, according to officials, and was likely connected to a significant international drug trafficking network.
“We believe the liquid meth, of high purity, came from South America. It was packaged there and shipped via a convoluted route to Hong Kong, to be sent to Australia,” said senior superintendent Lee Ka-ming, head of the drug investigation bureau at Hong Kong customs.
No arrests have yet been made.
Busts continue
Hong Kong has so far this year uncovered more than double the meth seized in the whole of last year, with almost three tonnes confiscated by authorities.
Hong Kong authorities were alerted via intelligence exchanges with overseas law enforcement to the possibility of large liquid meth shipments arriving in the city, customs official Fong Heung-wing told reporters.
“Coconut water (shipments) from Mexico are extremely rare … the last time was in 2016 and weighed just six kilogrammes,” Fong said, adding that the size of the shipment also made it suspicious.
The contraband was found among other goods in a cargo container and identified using X-rays last Sunday.An online search for the shipment’s alleged recipient, an Australian company, came up empty, officials said.
The last largest meth bust in Hong Kong occurred in April, when officials discovered 700kg of the narcotic hidden in Mexican industrial equipment.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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