A Hong Kong man was arrested on Friday near a hotel in Zape for taking and possessing alprazolam (阿普唑侖) which is under the local government’s list of controlled substances, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon said at a press conference on Monday.
A local woman who was at the hotel was taken to a police station to assist in the investigation.
The duo are a 51-year-old man surnamed Lam who told the police that he works as a clerk and a 34-year-old jobless woman surnamed Choi.
According to Leng, the Judiciary Police discovered a suspicious parcel sent from Hong Kong during a daily routine check on Friday and notified the Macau Customs Service to follow up on the case. The Customs Service suspected that the parcel contained illegal drugs and the Judiciary Police subsequently launched an investigation. PJ officers identified the parcel’s recipient (Lam) and put him under surveillance. Lam was arrested the next day near the hotel right after he signed the receipt for the parcel.
Leng said that the Judiciary Police confirmed that there were no illegal drugs in the parcel and they subsequently went to Lam’s hotel guestroom where Choi was. PJ officers seized nine tablets of alprazolam weighing 3.5 grammes in the room and found more than 100 sleeping pills in the parcel that Lam had just received. Lam claimed that the medicines had been prescribed by a doctor. However, he was unable to show any evidence and denied that he was planning to sell the drugs. Leng added that Lam test positive for alprazolam.
The duo were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Monday, facing drug-taking charges, according to Leng.
According to Wikipedia, alprazolam, sold under the brand name Xanax, among others, is a fast-acting tranquilizer of medium duration. It is most commonly used in short-term management of anxiety disorders, specifically panic disorder or generalised anxiety disorder.
