Hong Kong intercepts largest air cargo cocaine stash in 20 years
Beijing, Jun 30 (EFE).- The Hong Kong Customs Department announced Wednesday the seizure of 110 kilograms of cocaine from Brazil at the city’s airport, the largest stash by air discovered in the last 20 years.
The source estimated that the drug’s total street value would be at about 130 million Hong Kong dollars ($16.7 million.)
The Customs Department said they required X-rays to discover the drugs, hidden within two hydraulic systems of 1,500 kilos each, and which arrived on a flight of goods from Brazil whose cargo was not inspected until day 22.
Authorities said it was necessary to pierce the metal with special tools to reach the cocaine packages.
“The precise way to hide the drugs has made it difficult for customs,” head of the narcotics investigation department, Lee Kam-wing told Hong Kong media outlet RTHK.
“The shipment did not contain high-tech products, it is relatively more expensive to send by air, and South America is not a center for the manufacture of heavy machinery,” said Cheung-Tin-ho, one of the Customs officials in Hong Kong International Airport.
Two people have been arrested so far in connection with the shipment. EFE
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