Customs Busts Record Sea Cannabis Shipment, Arrests Three
SingTao · 11 SOURCESabout 24 hours ago2 MIN
Summary
Hong Kong Customs said it had uncovered the largest seaborne trafficking case involving suspected cannabis buds on record, seizing about 535 kilograms from a 40-foot container arriving from Thailand and declared as carrying insulated boxes. The department said the haul was worth about HK$125 million, although an earlier brief from Commercial Radio had put the estimate at about HK$115 million before the fuller case details were released. Officers found suspicious density patterns during X-ray screening, then discovered vacuum-packed cannabis hidden inside 364 boxes, with some of the drug-laden cartons also containing suspected tracking devices. After a 16-day controlled delivery operation, customs officers arrested three men in Mong Kok on September 17, including a 44-year-old Vietnamese man holding a recognizance form who was charged with attempting to traffic in a dangerous drug and is due in Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts on Monday, September 21.
Key Points
- Customs selected the Thailand shipment for inspection after intelligence exchange, risk assessment and its origin from a high-risk drug source area raised suspicion.
- Officers examined 1,342 cartons of insulated boxes; 442 had blue markings, and 364 of those were one to two kilograms heavier than normal.
- The suspected cannabis was packed in plastic bags and vacuum-sealed to suppress odor, then mixed with many ordinary boxes to complicate detection.
- Investigators said traffickers used a local freight forwarder for customs declaration work, stored the cargo in a remote New Territories warehouse for 16 days, and changed logistics instructions.
- On September 17, two men collected 54 boxes from the warehouse, moved them to Mong Kok, and a third man carried the goods into a tenement flat before arrests.
Why It Matters
The case points to increasingly sophisticated smuggling methods aimed at Hong Kong’s freight and warehousing chain, including false declarations, delayed collection, split pick-ups and suspected real-time tracking of cargo. Customs said cannabis seizures had reached 2,875 kilograms by August, up 27 per cent year on year, and exceeded 3,500 kilograms so far this year after this case, adding to pressure on enforcement and the logistics sector to tighten vigilance.