Five people suspected of working for a Hong Kong drug-trafficking gang have been arrested, with police seizing drugs worth 220,000 patacas as well as 74,000 patacas in cash, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Choi Ian Fai said during a special press conference yesterday.
Choi said the police busted a gang led by Hongkongers engaged in drug trafficking activities in Macau, arresting four drug traffickers and a buyer on Tuesday. The police suspect that the gang had been “in business” for nearly a month, and the police are still looking for other suspects, according to Choi, who said the gang had been under police surveillance for some time.
According to Choi, the police seized 53.72 grammes of cocaine, 5.41 grammes of ketamine, 0.13 grammes of LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) and 12.12 grammes of methamphetamine, with a total street value of about 220,000 patacas, in addition to cash of 74,000 patacas.
Choi said that three of the five suspects are Hong Kong residents, all males aged between 23 to 33 years old, surnamed Chu, Lau and Law. The fourth suspect is a 23-year-old man surnamed Liao from the mainland, while the fifth suspect is a 29-year-old local resident surnamed Sio, who bought drugs from the gang for personal use.
According to Choi, the anti-narcotics division of the Judiciary Police received a tip-off about a week ago that a drug trafficking gang in Hong Kong was smuggling drugs into Macau and selling them here, mainly looking for buyers at night entertainment venues.
Police officers were able to track down two of the suspects based on immigration records and CCTV footage. The police arrested Lau and Chu when the former was getting into a hire car driven by the latter outside a hotel in Zape on Tuesday night. A large quantity of packets of cocaine and ketamine was found in the car as well as some cash on the suspects.
Police officers then went to search the hotel guestroom that Lau had booked where they also found a large amount of drug-packing equipment and where police arrested Law, whose job was it to guard and packets the drugs. In the room officers also found multiple packages of cocaine, ketamine, an LSD tablet and drug-taking paraphernalia as well as some cash.
Later, police officers caught Sio and Liao at a night entertainment venue in Zape and after searching the latter found that he had various drugs and a quantity of cash on him.
Under questioning, Lau told the police that he was paid HK$1,700 each day while Chu, Law and Liao were paid HK$1,500 a day each by the Hong Kong gang to sell drugs in Macau, according to Chio.
The five suspects were transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) for further investigations, facing charges of “trafficking in narcotics and psychotropic substances” and “illegal use of narcotics and psychotropic substances”, while Chu also faces a charge of “driving under the influence of drugs”, Choi said.
The hooded suspects are escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters in Zape to a vehicle yesterday. – Photos: Iong Tat Choi
Evidence seized from the suspects such as various types of drugs, smartphones, packaging tools for the drugs, Hong Kong dollar and pataca notes are displayed during yesterday’s special press conference about the case at the pressroom of the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters.
