Hong Kong police have arrested a 34-year-old man after discovering HK$32 million (US$4.4 million) worth of suspected cannabis buds hidden in a delivery van in a New Territories car park.
The force said on Monday that officers had mounted an anti-narcotics operation a day earlier, staking out the Tsing Yi car park after receiving intelligence that had helped them identify the suspect and locate the vehicle used to stash the drug.
Senior Inspector Poon Sung-lai of the Kowloon East crime unit said officers intercepted the man when he approached the van in the car park in the early hours of Sunday.
“Afterwards, police searched the vehicle and confiscated 119kg [262lbs] of suspected cannabis buds. The haul has an estimated street value of HK$32 million,” Poon said.
Police detained the man on suspicion of trafficking in a dangerous drug – an offence punishable by up to life in prison and a HK$5 million fine.
As of Monday afternoon, the suspect was still being held for questioning.
The force said further arrests had not been ruled out as their investigation into the source of the drug was ongoing.
Poon said the man was likely to be charged with a drug-related offence and brought before Kwun Tong Court on Tuesday, adding police would continue to combat drug trafficking activities “at all levels”.
The amount of cannabis confiscated by police and customs between January and May this year reached 2,279kg, a 246 per cent jump from 658kg uncovered in the same period last year.
On February 26, customs officers made their largest local seizure of cannabis buds, seizing a haul worth HK$115 million during a raid on a warehouse in Fanling and arresting a 57-year-old man.
In the first five months of this year, the combined seizures of five major illegal drugs – cannabis, cocaine, Ice, heroin and ketamine – rose by 27 per cent to 4.7 tonnes from 3.7 tonnes over the same period in 2023.
