News / Hong Kong Customs team uncover $63m cocaine smuggling bid

Photo: © Vichaya Kiatying-angsulee

Hong Kong Customs has uncovered a bid to smuggle $63m of liquid cocaine into the territory in a container of wine.

Senior superintendent Wong Ho-yin and superintendent Lui Chi-tak said that, acting on intelligence, customs officials singled out a 20ft container that had arrived from Brazil on 19 December.

A total of 444 kg of suspected liquid cocaine, worth $63m, had been packed in 148 transparent plastic bags. The container was said to be filled with cartons of red and white wine. The drugs were found in 37 of the 706 cartons.

Mr Lui said: “Some of the cartons had traces of repackaging and inconsistent weight, and the production number and date of manufacture of the goods concerned were not printed near the edge of the bags, which aroused suspicion.”

He added: “The appearance of liquid cocaine is indistinguishable from that of liquor, and the smugglers used the same plastic bags as those containing genuine liquor to deceive the Customs officers.”

The customs team laid an ambush to nab the perpetrators. The packages containing the liquid cocaine were resealed and placed back in the container, which was returned to Kwai Chung Container Terminal. Days later, a drug dealer instructed the logistics company to deliver the container to Yuen Long district. After several days, suspected members of a smuggling syndicate collected the container and took it to Tsing Yi district.

On Saturday, one man was arrested for arranging the seaborne transportation of the drugs, and the following day, another man was held for receiving and storing the container. Additional arrests may follow, the customs superintendents said.

In November, Hong Kong police had called on logistics players to be vigilant, as drug traffickers often use shipping and trucking companies to move narcotics.