4 Hongkongers arrested at Thai airport over smuggling HK$10 million of heroin in candy boxes
- Source says street value of heroin has risen to more than HK$700 per gram in Hong Kong, promising high payout for smugglers to city
Hong Kong immigration authorities have said they are following up on the case of four residents arrested at an airport in Bangkok on suspicion of attempting to smuggle HK$10 million (US$1.3 million) worth of heroin concealed in candy boxes, the second such incident in Thailand in two months.
Thai authorities said they believed the four suspects, apprehended last Thursday, were allegedly responsible for coordinating the procurement, control and transporting of narcotics from the country to Hong Kong.
A source said on Monday that the street value of heroin had risen to more than HK$700 per gram in Hong Kong’s underground market.
“Drug dealers could have pocketed HK$10 million if the 14kg [30.8lbs] haul had successfully been smuggled into the city,” the insider said.
Hong Kong’s Immigration Department said on Monday that it had been in contact with the Chinese foreign ministry’s arm in the city and the country’s embassy in Thailand to get an understanding of the situation. It added it would pay close attention to developments in the case.
Following an exchange of intelligence with Hong Kong police’s narcotics bureau, Thai authorities tracked “the movements of this four-person syndicate and identified them as key players in a transnational drug-trafficking operation”, a Thai official told media a day later.
