Ten people have been arrested in Mong Kok, Fo Tan, Kam Tin and Tai Po on suspicion of trafficking cannabis through online platforms.

Senior superintendent Kwan Chun-hin said on Friday the arrests came after raids on Monday netted about 78 kilogrammes of suspected cannabis products in the form of buds, oil and food products in warehouses in Kam Tin and Tai Po.

They have a market value of about HK$16 million in total.

The eight male and two female suspects – aged between 22 and 40 – operated out of a unit in a commercial building that functioned as a headquarters and rented warehouses at industrial buildings to sell cannabis-products on social media platforms, Kwan said, adding they concealed their activities extremely well.

"During the investigation, we found a Telegram chat room that advertised cannabis-related products such as cannabis cookies and cannabis sweets," senior inspector Ho Ho-ting said.

"Following undercover and investigative work, we identified a drug syndicate in Mong Kok and a drug-storage warehouse in Fo Tan.

"We also identified a number of key members of the syndicate – the mastermind as well as those responsible for customer services, social-media content creation, online publicity, warehouse control, order co-ordination and drug deliveries."

Kwan said the syndicate had promoted the use of cannabis on different social-media platforms, praising it as fashionable and trendy and downplaying its negative effects while promoting its stress-relieving effects.

Cannabis use, he said, triggers hallucinations and stunts growth among adolescents, especially memory and cognitive development.