Four locals – three men and a woman – aged between 22 and 29 were arrested separately at their homes on Thursday and Friday for smuggling cannabis from Hong Kong to Macau to sell, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said during a special press conference on Saturday.
In addition, according to Chan, during the operation PJ officers seized 216.8 grammes of cannabis products and 10 bottles weighing 147.6 grammes of cannabis oil, with an estimated street value of 251,800 patacas, as well as drug-taking paraphernalia and drug-packaging items.
Upon receiving intelligence earlier that drugs were being smuggled into Macau from Hong Kong, the Judiciary Police identified a 26-year-old man surnamed Ho as a suspect and put him under surveillance, Chan said, adding that Ho, who had left Macau for Hong Kong on Thursday afternoon, was arrested when re-entering Macau via the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal that evening. Chan noted that PJ officers seized 83.7 grammes of cannabis on Ho, as well as 9.8 grammes of cannabis oil, 8 grammes of ready-rolled joints and a batch of drug-taking paraphernalia at his home in Seac Pai Van in Coloane.
Based on Ho’s confession, the Judiciary Police identified a 29-year-old man surnamed Lam as another suspect who had an arrangement to buy cannabis with Ho, according to Chan, who added that PJ officers arrested Lam in the wee hours of Friday in the city centre, where the officers seized 12 packets of cannabis weighing 125.1 grammes and drug-taking paraphernalia at his home in the district.
Under questioning, the duo told the police that they had spent HK$20,000 to buy 80 grammes of cannabis from a drug dealer in Hong Kong and had smuggled it into Macau on two occasions over three months, Chan said, adding that as the actual weight of cannabis seized from the duo did not match what they had told the police and as Ho, tasked with buying the drugs in Hong Kong, had entered and left Hong Kong and Macau almost 10 times recently, the Judiciary Police suspect that the duo deliberately hid the fact that it was not just their second drug-smuggling Hong Kong-Macau trip.
Meanwhile, a further PJ investigation identified a 22-year-old man surnamed Espidol who was tasked with selling the cannabis smuggled from Hong Kong in Macau, Chan said, adding that the police arrested him near his home in the northern district and seized a total of nine bottles of cannabis oil weighing 147.6 grammes found on him and in his flat. Espidol’s girlfriend, aged 26, surnamed Son, was also taken in for questioning, according to Chan, who noted that the Judiciary Police do not rule out the probability that Son was aware of the drug trafficking.
Ho, Lam and Espidol insisted that the drugs were just for personal use, Chan said, adding that Ho and Espidol tested positive for the drug, while Son and Lam tested negative.
The quartet was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Saturday, facing respective charges of drug trafficking and drug taking, Chan noted.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the three hooded male drug suspects, all of them locals, to a police vehicle outside the PJ headquarters in Zape on Saturday. – Photo courtesy of TDM
