A jobless local man was arrested on Thursday for cultivating cannabis (aka marijuana) at a unit in an industrial building on Rua da Ribeira do Patane, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam said at a special press conference on Friday, adding that the flat had caught fire caused by a short circuit in an air-conditioner at 4 p.m. on the day he was caught, and that’s how the police discovered the cultivation of cannabis in the unit.
According to Ho, the 27-year-old suspect is surnamed Ng.
Ho noted that the Public Security Police (PSP) and the Fire Services Bureau (CB) received a report on Thursday that a unit in an industrial building on Rua da Ribeira do Patane had caught fire, adding that no flames were seen at the scene when the police and firefighters arrived, but there was a smell of burning in the building.
Ho said that the firefighters found that an air conditioner in the unit had been burning, and the fire had spread to the fan below it, pointing out that the fire sprinkler in the unit had extinguished the fire, so the firefighters believed that the blaze was caused by a short circuit in the electrical wiring of the air conditioner.
When PSP officers were helping to deal with the incident, they found a large number of suspected cannabis plants in the unit, and immediately intercepted Ng who had rushed to the scene to see what was going on, Ho said, adding that the Public Security Police then informed the Judiciary Police to follow up on the case.
PJ officers found nine cannabis cultivation tents, 25 cannabis plants and 268 grammes of cannabis flowers, an exhaust system, an insulation light, an electronic weighing scale and a growth medium, as well as some drug-taking paraphernalia and packaging, and fertilisers, Ho noted.
Subsequently, Ho said, the officers searched Ng’s flat on Rua Central da Areia Preta, and found seven packets of cannabis products weighing about 90.35 grammes, and drug-taking paraphernalia and dispensing tools.
Under questioning, Ng told the police that in June last year he bought six cannabis seeds online for 1,200 patacas, and successfully grew a cannabis plant in his flat by learning cannabis cultivation methods online, adding that from April this year he paid a monthly rental fee of HK$15,000 for the unit in the industrial building to cultivate 25 cannabis plants by grafting, which he planned to sell as cannabis products, according to Ho.
Ng also said that he had sold 100 grammes of marijuana for about 20,000 patacas in around five months, Ho said, adding that Ng admitted to taking drugs, and he tested positive for drugs.
A total of 358.36 grammes of cannabis products with a street value of nearly 36,000 patacas were seized, Ho noted, adding that the value of marijuana under cultivation had yet to be calculated at the time of Friday’s press conference.
Ng was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Friday, where he was facing charges of drug trafficking, drug abuse and possession of drug-taking paraphernalia, according to Ho.
This undated handout photo provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) during Friday’s special press conference in Nape shows PJ officers investigating the cannabis cultivation system in the unit of an industrial building in Patane district.
