Hong Kong police arrested five men including two Form-Six teenagers and seized illegal drugs disguised as wine worth HK$215 million, smuggled into the city from South America, police said.
The police spokesman from the narcotics bureau said on Friday that the five men included an alleged ringleader, two key figures and two 18-year-old students who were each paid a few thousand Hong Kong dollars to deliver the haul.
Police said the men were arrested at the end of their investigation after they found out that a local drug trafficker had stored drugs in many locations using various kinds of hiding methods to smuggle them into the city from overseas to circumvent police attention.
After completing their evidence, officers raided an 80 sq ft office used by the drug dealer to store illegal drugs in a Kwai Chung industrial building on Wednesday and got 279 boxes of wine in the flat, according to the police.
The police spokesperson said, “We believe 426 bottles labelled as table wine, found in 71 of these boxes, were actually used as a disguise for the 320 litres (84 gallons) of suspected liquid cocaine".
Other suspected drugs such as Ketamine, cannabis buds and a slab of what appeared to be cocaine were also seized, it was added.
The men aged 18 to 23 unpacking boxes in the office at the time of the raid were apprehended.
Police later raided a Sheung Shui flat and arrested a 31-year-old man, they said.
Moreover, in the evening of the same day, police arrested the alleged ringleader, 33, in Sham Shui Po. HK$500,000 was found and seized by the officers in suspected crime proceeds generated from drug trafficking in his car and flat in Yau Ma Tei.
The next day, officers raided another four locations in Yau Ma Tei, Kwai Chung, Kwun Tong and Lau Fau Shan that were linked to the syndicate. In the Lau Fau Shan flat, police found 635 boxes containing 3,810 bottles of wine. Officers found no illegal drugs inside, the report said.
Police said it was believed that the batch of wine was disguised and conveyed along with the haul of suspected liquid cocaine into Hong Kong from South America.
Photo: Via SCMP
In addition, officers seized three bottles labelled as wine containing suspected liquid cocaine and about 500 grams of suspected crack cocaine during a raid on the Kwun Tong premises.
The five men were detained on suspicion of trafficking in a dangerous drug. The offence is punishable by up to life in jail and a HK$5 million fine.
香港警方逮捕5名男子，包括2名青少年，檢獲價值2.15億港幣冒充酒的毒品
警方稱，香港警方逮捕了五名男子，其中包括兩名中六青少年，並查獲了價值 2.15 億港元的偽裝成葡萄酒的非法毒品，這些毒品是從南美洲走私到香港的。
緝毒局警方發言人週五表示，這五名男子包括一名涉嫌主犯、兩名關鍵人物和兩名 18 歲學生，他們每人獲得數千港元的報酬來運送毒品。
警方表示，調查結束後，他們發現一名當地毒販在多個地點儲存毒品，利用各種隱藏手段將毒品從海外偷運至該市，以規避警方的注意，隨後將這些男子逮捕。
警方稱，完成證據後，警方於週三突襲毒販在葵湧工業大廈內用來存放非法毒品的80平方英尺辦公室，並在公寓內搜獲279箱葡萄酒。
警方發言人表示，「我們相信在其中 71 個盒子中發現的 426 個標有佐餐酒的瓶子，實際上是用來掩飾 320 公升（84 加侖）可疑液體可卡因」。
補充說，還查獲了其他可疑藥物，例如氯胺酮、大麻芽和一塊疑似可卡因的物質。
突襲時，這些年齡在 18 歲至 23 歲之間的男子在辦公室拆箱，被捕。
警方隨後突襲搜查上水一間公寓並逮捕一名 31 歲男子。
此外，警方於同日傍晚在深水埗逮捕了33歲的涉嫌主犯。 警方在他油麻地的汽車和公寓內發現並檢獲了涉嫌販毒所得的 50 萬港元。
隔天，警方突襲搜查油麻地、葵湧、觀塘及流浮山另外四個與該集團有聯繫的地點。 警方在流浮山單位內發現635個箱子，內載3,810瓶葡萄酒。 報導稱，警方在裡面沒有發現非法毒品。
警方表示，相信該批葡萄酒經過偽裝，與一群懷疑液體可卡因一起從南美洲運入香港。
此外，海關人員在觀塘處所進行突襲搜查時，檢獲三瓶標有酒類的懷疑液體可卡因及約500克懷疑強效可卡因。
這五名男子因涉嫌販運危險毒品而被拘留。 該罪行最高可判處終身監禁及 500 萬港元罰款。
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