The new commissioner of customs and excise, Chan Tsz-tat, said officers are dedicated to enhancing measures to tackle space oil drug cases, both those produced locally and those smuggled in from abroad, in order to curb the rise of this emerging narcotic.

Chan said customs seized around 23.5 kilogrammes of etomidate, a main component of the space oil drug, last year, primarily shipped to Hong Kong via express delivery.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Chan said the department conducted a raid on a local drug distributor just a few days ago, highlighting the alarming popularity of the drug in the market.

"When we found that person was in possession of one kilogramme of cocaine, we subsequently escorted the offender to his premises. What was so surprising is that we also found at that place that the drug trafficker is in fact manufacturing at his home space oil drugs," he said.

"He is in possession of apparatus to make these material of space oil drug into those capsules that can be easily consumed using electronic smoking devices."

Chan said frontline officers are equipped with specialised equipment in detecting the drug.

"We have been using ion scanners as well as Raman spectrometres. These two types of equipment are very effective in detecting whether any consignment contain such drugs," he said.

"On top of our detection on the front line, we also use a risk-based and intelligence-led approach to suppress the smuggling of dangerous drugs."

He also said they would utilise big data to analyse the sources of shipments, transporters and declaration information moving forward.