In order to evade the interception and investigation by law enforcement officers, drug cartels used a large number of legitimate goods to disguise drugs and transport them into Hong Kong.
Recently, the customs found a batch of goods shipped from Malaysia to Hong Kong, including sports shoes containing drugs. After inspection, the customs officers intercepted 31 kilograms of cocaine with a market value of 26 million yuan.
After investigation, Customs arrested a 44-year-old female warehouse manager in the warehouse of an industrial building in Kwai Chung. She was responsible for signing for the goods and storing the goods. The Customs is still investigating the final consignee, and it is not ruled out that there may be more people arrested.
Drug dealers stash drugs in sneakers.
(Photo by Huang Weimin)
Liu Zhixin, Inspector of the Hong Kong Customs Port and Sea Area 1000-Container Cargo Inspection Team, pointed out that after risk assessment and data analysis, the customs officers locked up a consolidated container shipped from Malaysia to Hong Kong at the Kwai Chung Container Terminal. There were 41 batches of different types of goods in the container. , one of which was a shipment declared as personal effects.
Since the consignee is a newly established logistics company, and Malaysia is one of the drug transshipment centers in Southeast Asia, the customs officers selected this batch of goods for inspection.
There are a total of 40 boxes of goods declared to contain personal belongings. Each box contains two pairs of sports shoes and a small amount of shirts and trousers. The goods are inspected one by one by an X-ray machine. The personnel found that 14 boxes of sports shoes were suspicious, so they decided to open them. examine.
Customs officers opened one of the cartons and found a package of vacuum-processed white powder hidden in the sneakers. A rapid drug test tested positive for cocaine.
Officers finally seized 31 kilograms of suspected cocaine with a market value of 26 million yuan, and the case was subsequently handed over to the Customs Narcotics Investigation Division for follow-up.
Inspector Liu Zhixin (left) of Customs Port and Sea Area 1000-Container Cargo Inspection Team and Qiu Yingyang (right), Director of Investigation of Drug Investigation Section 3 of Customs Narcotics Investigation Division.
(Photo by Huang Weimin)
Qiu Yingyang, the investigation director of the third group of drug investigation of the Narcotics Investigation Bureau, said that after the Narcotics Investigation Bureau took over, after in-depth investigation and monitoring of delivery, the officers arrested a 44-year-old woman in the warehouse of an industrial building in Kwai Chung on November 30. The person in charge of the warehouse, she has been released on bail pending investigation.
Customs believes that drug traffickers use the logistics warehouses of local industrial buildings to store drugs and wait for the right time to transport the drugs in batches to different places for packaging and distribution. They also hope to use the environment of densely populated industrial buildings and frequent loading and unloading of goods to transport drugs and evade law enforcement Personnel intercepted.
Due to recent efforts by law enforcement agencies to crack down on cross-border drug trafficking activities, drug trafficking syndicates have to use a large number of legitimate goods to disguise drugs and transport them into Hong Kong. Taking this case as an example, only 14 boxes of 40 boxes of personal belongings contained drugs.
This time, the Customs seized a total of cocaine with a market value of about 26 million yuan. It is estimated that drug syndicates hoarded it before Christmas and New Year’s Day holidays, and then supplied it to the local market during the long holidays.
The case is still under investigation and further arrests cannot be ruled out.
Customs urges logistics practitioners to be more vigilant to new customers, and should take the initiative to ask customers to provide more information, such as company registration documents, cargo receipts and pictures, for reference and records.