Pump up the volume: Hong Kong police arrest three drug suspects and seize 5kg of ketamine hidden in loudspeakers
PUBLISHED : Friday, 18 September, 2015, 2:15pm
UPDATED : Friday, 18 September, 2015, 2:16pm
Clifford Lo
[email protected]
Some 5kg of ketamine was seized by police. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Hong Kong police arrested three alleged drug traffickers and seized 5kg of suspected ketamine concealed in loudspeakers in Mong Kok last night.
Acting on a tip-off, officers from Kowloon East regional special duty squad lay in wait outside the Cordis Hotel at Langham Place for several hours before a car arrived at about 10pm.
A 21-year-old man was arrested after police saw him make a suspected drug exchange with the driver, an 18-year-old man, according to police.
“A loudspeaker [the elder man] was carrying was found to conceal 1kg of suspected ketamine,” a police spokesman said.
The younger man returned to his car and drove off but it was intercepted by police in Dundas Street, about 100 metres from the site of the alleged drug transaction.
Police arrested the driver and an 18-year-old woman passenger, his girlfriend, who was wearing a school uniform.
“On board the vehicle, officers seized four speakers that were found to conceal 4kg of suspected ketamine,” the spokesman said.
According to police, the consignment had an estimated street value of HK$770,000.
Police arrested the three Hongkongers on suspicion of trafficking in a dangerous drug.
At 1pm today, the three suspects were being held for questioning and none of them had been charged.
Officers are still investigating the source of the illegal drugs.
On Wednesday, police arrested 17 people and confiscated illegal drugs with an estimated street value of HK$1.68 million in four separate operations in the space of five hours.
Fighting illegal drugs is one of the police commissioner’s operational priorities this year, according to the police force’s website.
Police figures show seizures of ketamine rose by 70 per cent to 348kg in the first six months of this year from 205kg in the same period last year. Officers also seized 238kg of Ice and 163kg of cocaine in the first six months of this year.
