HK customs seize $38m crystal meth haul hidden in cement bags

Hong Kong, Nov 2 (efe-epa).- Hong Kong customs police on Monday said they had discovered half a ton of crystal meth worth an estimated $38 million being smuggled in bags of cement from Mexico to Australia.

It is the largest seizure of crystal meth in Hong Kong’s history.

Barry Chu Yin-min, head of the customs police drug bureau, said the discovery was made on Thursday inside 250 bags of cement that arrived in the city in a shipping container.

Customs agents estimate the value of the drugs to be around 300 million Hong Kong dollars (US$38.6 million).

Chu said the shipment could have a value five times higher in Australia, its final destination.

He added that drug cartels are having to find new methods to smuggle illegal substances around the world as the coronavirus pandemic has drastically reduced international travel.

“The container arrived from Vietnam, where it stayed for three months, but its documents indicated that it originally came from Mexico and had also passed through South Korea,” Superintendent Benson Lee Tak-shun said.

The officials added that they have not made any arrests so far.

They also said the department seized 244 kg of methamphetamines between January and September of this year, a 280 percent increase compared to the same period last year, and that about 89 percent of these drugs were found in cargo terminals.

Most of the methamphetamine circulating in Asia comes from the so-called Golden Triangle, an area where the borders of Laos, Burma and Thailand meet.