Two local men were arrested on Monday at the Barrier Gate checkpoint for drug trafficking, hiding the drugs inside a power bank.
A total of 14.26 grammes of ice with an estimated street value of 45,000 patacas were seized by the police, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said at a special press conference yesterday.
The two suspects are a 34-year-old man surnamed Lao who told the police that he works as a lorry driver, and a 39-year-old cabbie surnamed Chong.
According to Chan, the Judiciary Police received a tip-off recently that two local men were selling drugs to night entertainment venues’ customers near the Barrier Gate checkpoint area. PJ officers identified Lao and Chong as the suspects. The officers went to the area on Monday morning and put them under surveillance. In the afternoon, the duo re-entered Macau via the Barrier Gate checkpoint and looked nervous. The officers arrested them and found on Lao a modified power bank, with three packs of ice weighing 5.56 grammes hidden inside the device.
Chan said that the Judiciary Police later searched the duo’s homes in the northern district and seized a pack of ice weighing 8.7 grammes, drug-taking paraphernalia as well as another modified power bank from Chong’s home.
According to Chan, this was the first case in Macau in which drugs traffickers using modified power banks of which they removed part of the batteries to hide drugs inside while the chargers could still perform their functions so as to use them as cover-up.
Chan said that Lao and Chong admitted that they are drug users but denied that they sold drugs. They told the police that they bought the drugs for 2,500 yuan from the mainland for their own use. However, the Judiciary Police believe that the duo had been selling drugs in Macau for more than a month.
The duo were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing charges of drug trafficking and drug abuse, according to Chan.
The hooded suspects are escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters to a PJ vehicle yesterday. – Photo courtesy of TDM.
Evidence seized from the suspects such as a modified power bank and a quantity of drugs is displayed at the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters yesterday.
