Record number of drug busts at Hong Kong International Airport
Sources point to surge in attempts to smuggle synthetic 'bath salts' and Ice from the mainland as the number of arrests more than doubles
A record number of drug busts have been made at the airport this year as traffickers tried to smuggle the synthetic drug "bath salts" from the mainland to the United States via Hong Kong.
Customs officers at the airport foiled 342 drug-smuggling attempts in the first nine months of this year, a 118 per cent rise from 157 cases in the same period of last year, sources from the Customs and Excise Department said.
In the first nine months of this year, 390kg of illegal drugs were seized, a 58 per cent increase from the 247kg seized in the same period last year.
Officers detected 196 drug-smuggling cases at the airport in the whole of 2013, with 204 in 2012 and 140 in 2011.
One source attributed this year's rise to the increasing number of attempts to smuggle "bath salts" - a synthetic form of cathinone, a substance derived from the khat plant which has been chewed as a stimulant in the Middle East for centuries - and the methamphetamine drug known as Ice.
According to the source, an average of 30 air parcels were intercepted at the airport's cargo terminal each month this year and each parcel contained up to 2kg of the drugs. In the first nine months of last year, there were only 25 such cases.
"Investigations show 'bath salts' are mainly intended for the United States while Ice was destined for Australia and New Zealand," the source said.
Ice and "bath salts" are understood to have been smuggled into the city from the mainland before being exported overseas.
The source said it was very rare to find "bath salts" in the city's illegal market.
Highly addictive and potent, "bath salts" have been linked to cases of hyperaggression and hallucination in the United States.
Figures obtained by showed that nearly 100 parcels containing "bath salts" were intercepted at the airport's cargo terminal in the first nine months of this year. In all, 157kg of the drug with an estimated street value of HK$34 million, was confiscated.
There were seven cases involving the seizure of a total of 14kg of the drug in the same period of last year.
Customs also intercepted 88 parcels containing 89kg of Ice in the first nine months of this year, compared to 18 cases involving a total of 51kg of the drug in the same period last year.
Another source said the increase in the drug busts was the result of enhanced enforcement actions and the exchange of intelligence. "We are closely monitoring the situation," the source said.
A spokesman for the Customs and Excise Department yesterday insisted that "Hong Kong is not a drug transit centre". Like other international trading and transport hubs, the heavy traffic and passenger flow had posed challenges in combating smuggling activities, the spokesman said.
"Yet Hong Kong maintains rigorous enforcement against drug trafficking and continues to enhance enforcement cooperation and intelligence exchange with counterparts to interdict transnational drug trafficking," he said. Police and customs officers had seized a total of 643kg of illegal drugs in the first seven months of this year, up from 431kg in the same period last year.
