Customs said on Friday a 49 year-old man has been arrested following the seizure of about 53.9 kilogrammes of suspected cocaine.

The drug haul had an estimated market value of about HK$36.2 million.

Senior investigator Lam Chung-ho of the drug investigation bureau said the Customs and Excise Department operation on Wednesday came after an intelligence exchange with overseas law enforcement authorities.

Officers stopped the man outside a hotel in Central where they found 11kg of suspected cocaine in his backpack.

He was then taken to a residential unit in Mong Kok, where officers seized another 42.9kg.

Lam said the man will be charged with trafficking in a dangerous drug.

“Preliminary investigations show that criminals had been using a residential flat in the bustling area as a drug storage and distribution centre in an attempt to make use of the heavy footfall to make detection of their activities harder and evade custom officers’ investigation,” he said.

“Moreover, the man connected to the case frequently changed hotels to increase the difficulty for officers attempting to track him down.”

The operation has intercepted large batches of the drug at the source and prevented them from entering the market, Lam added.


Edited by Aaron Tam