The Customs Drug Investigation Bureau said on Wednesday that they believe a drug ring picked industrial buildings with a high level of traffic to camouflage its operation.

Its divisional commander, Jacky Tsang, made the comment after officers seized 230 kilograms of suspected cocaine – the largest haul in four years.

Tsang said the drugs, worth around HK$180 million, were found in an industrial building unit in Kwai Chung on August 29.

He noted that the building had a lot of tenants and a high people flow, and the syndicate might have thought that that would make it harder for law enforcement officials to trace their movement.

"The syndicate members have not been seen for two weeks after they put the goods in storage," he said.

"We believe that on one hand, they wanted to use this period to see if any law enforcement officers would detect the drugs, and on the other, the syndicate was actively looking for other industrial building units to set up distribution centres."

Tsang said a 53-year-old man, suspected of transporting the drugs into the unit, has been arrested, adding that officials are still pursuing other ring members.