Two local men were arrested on Wednesday for buying cannabis online and cultivating psilocybin mushrooms at their photography studio in the central district, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam said at a special press conference on Friday.
According to Ho, the two suspects are local residents surnamed Sou and Sam, aged 27 and 28 respectively, the former being the studio’s director of photography and the latter a photographer.
Ho said that the Judiciary Police had exchanged intelligence with the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department earlier, according to which someone was smuggling drugs into Macau by mail. An investigation confirmed the two suspects’ identities and workplaces. At the same time, the police discovered that they had purchased cannabis by post from a country in Oceania via Hong Kong, Ho added.
Ho said that at 5:40 p.m. on Wednesday, the police arrested Sam when he was collecting his package from an express pick-up point in the central district, and discovered 377.1 grammes of cannabis in boxes of chocolates and biscuits inside the package.
Ho also said that seven grammes of cannabis and 9.92 grammes of psilocin and psilocybin, which are controlled goods in Macau, were found during a search of the studio, adding that bongs, grinders, electronic scales, and cultivation cabinets were also discovered by the police, as well as psilocybin mushrooms grown at the studio.
Ho said the cannabis and psilocybin mushrooms have a street value of around 300,000 patacas.
Ho said the police later discovered that the studio had been operating for around a year and confirmed that Sou and Sam had been cultivating psilocin mushrooms – aka magic mushrooms – there. He added that as Sou and Sam refused to cooperate with the police, the case is still under investigation.
The Judiciary Police needed to conduct further investigations into how the mushrooms are cultivated and how many can be grown at each time, Ho said.
According to Ho, Sou and Sam were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) Friday morning, facing charges of drug trafficking and drug abuse.
Psilocybin is a hallucinogenic substance obtained from certain types of mushrooms that are indigenous to tropical and subtropical regions of South America, Mexico, and the United States, according to the US Department of Justice.
Psilocybin is a hallucinogenic substance obtained from certain types of mushrooms that are indigenous to tropical and subtropical regions of South America, Mexico, and the United States.
This undated handout picture provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) on Friday shows a “magic mushroom” in a box.
Photo courtesy of TDM
