A mainlander was arrested on Monday for selling drugs for a Hong Kong gang in Macau, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said at a special press conference yesterday.
The 30-year-old male suspect surnamed Liang told the police that he works as a waiter.
According to Chan, the Judiciary Police received a tipoff about a week ago that a Hong Kong drug gang used smartphone apps to hire mainlanders to come to Macau for drug trafficking.
According to the tipoff, the gang planned to hide the drugs in a toaster and send them in an express parcel to Macau. A mainlander hired by the gang would then sell the drugs to regular customers in entertainment night venues in Zape.
Chan said PJ officers identified Liang who entered Macau from the mainland on Friday. The officers confirmed that Liang checked into a hotel in the city centre on Monday and put him under surveillance.
Liang left the hotel in the afternoon and picked up a discarded red cigarette packet from the roadside. The officers tailing him believed that he planned to put drugs into the packet. He then took a taxi to Areia Preta district and got out near a shopping mall at the Long Yuen residential estate.
Chan said that Liang seemed to be waiting for someone but suddenly looked nervous and started to leave the scene in a hurry. Officers immediately detained him and seized 56 packets of cocaine weighing 16.7 grammes with an estimated street value of 60,000 patacas from him.
Under questioning, Liang admitted that he was hired by a Hong Kong drug gang which hid the cocaine in a toaster which it sent in an express parcel to Macau from Hong Kong. Liang collected the parcel from a pickup point in Macau. He told the police that he was hired by the gang to sell drugs for the first time, with a daily pay of 800 patacas, and the selling price for 0.3 grammes of cocaine was fixed by the gang at between 1,000 and 1,500 patacas. However, he told the police that he had not sold any drugs yet.
PJ officers later seized the toaster in the hotel room where Liang stayed, Chan said.
According to Chan, PJ officers are continuing their investigation to trace the source of the drugs and other possible suspects.
Liang was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday morning for further questioning, facing charges of trafficking in narcotic and psychotropic substances, according to Chan.
The hooded drug suspect is escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters in Zape to a vehicle yesterday. Photos: Iong Tat Choi
Evidence seized from the suspect such as a Philips toaster, smartphone, packets of cocaine and a cigarette packet are displayed during yesterday’s special press conference about the city’s latest drug case at the pressroom of the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters.
