Customs officers on Wednesday said they had arrested three people aged between 44 and 55 last month after finding more than HK$130 million worth of suspected cannabis buds inside a shipment of soya beans at Kwai Chung Customhouse.

They said the consignment from Canada contained about 500 kilos of the drug.

The drugs were hidden in 83 packs of soya beans among 500 packs.

Officers intercepted the shipment when it arrived in the city on September 27, with the sender claiming it was a garment company.

They said the syndicates placed the dugs at the bottom of the cargo and used large amounts of soya bean packets to conceal the narcotics and avoid custom checks.

A man who went to the customhouse to retrieve the shipment on the day was arrested.

This was followed by the arrest of a man and a woman, both of whom were a staff member of a local delivery company.

Officers said investigations were still ongoing and more arrests may be made.

The department's senior investigator Tom Cheung said up until September this year, cases involving cannabis had already surpassed last year's total.

"As of September this year, Hong Kong customs has seized more than 2,600 kilogrammes of cannabis buds, which is already more than the total number last year," Cheung said.

"After the effective enforcement actions taken, the supply of cannabis buds in the market has been decreasing, and at the same time, the price of the drug has been increasing by more than 30 percent in the past few months," he added.