A Hong Kong man smuggled a large amount of cocaine into the city before the local government implemented 14-day quarantine measures between Hong Kong and Macau at midnight on Wednesday, planning to increase the price of the drug by 20 percent, PJ spokesman Leng Kam Lon said during a special press conference on Wednesday.
Leng said that following a tip-off a Hong Kong resident and local man suspected of trafficking and taking drugs were arrested in Rua da Praia do Manduco on Tuesday evening and 53.55 grammes of cocaine and 5.28 grammes of marijuana with a total street value of 200,000 patacas were seized.
The Hong Kong man is a 33-year-old surnamed Ngai, who claims to be jobless. The local man is a 35-year-old drug user surnamed Wong works for a casino junket operator.
According to Leng, the police received a tip-off a week ago that due to the spread of COVID-19, a drug-trafficking gang anticipated there would be stricter entry policies between Hong Kong and Macau, so it would be difficult for them to smuggle drugs into the city. Therefore, before the new entry rules came into effect, the gang decided to smuggle a large amount of drugs into Macau and raise the price of the drugs.
According to Leng, upon investigation, police confirmed that Ngai worked for the gang by smuggling drugs into Macau and selling them to patrons at night entertainment venues.
Police put Ngai under surveillance when he arrived in Macau and followed him when he got into a taxi in Praça de Ponte e Horta and got out in Rua da Praia do Manduco at about 10 p.m. on Tuesday. Afterwards, Ngai met up with Wong, and as police suspected that Ngai had already handed some drugs to Wong, they intercepted the duo when they were leaving the scene, and seized five packets of cocaine weighing a total of 2.06 grammes from Wong. Later that night, the police also seized 156 small packets of cocaine weighing a total of 51.49 grammes, 5.28 grammes of marijuana and 7,000 patacas in cash in a hotel guestroom in the city centre where Ngai was staying.
Upon questioning, Ngai confessed that he worked for a Hong Kong drug-trafficking gang for HK$2,500 per day because of his debts. In addition, he received an additional HK$4,500 for each visit he made to Macau. Ngai said that he smuggled drugs into the city early this month and sold 20 grammes of cocaine, taking a total of 50,000 patacas.
Ngai also confessed that starting at 00:00 on Wednesday, the price of a packet of 0.3 grammes of cocaine was to be raised from the original 800 patacas to 1,000 patacas. The gang’s kingpin sent instructions to him for each drug transaction via a smartphone of where and when to settle the deal, according to Leng.
Wong told the police that he had been taking cocaine for many years. The police seized five packets of cocaine from him which he had purchased from Ngai for 4,000 patacas for personal use, according to Leng.
The suspects were transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) on Wednesday and face charges of drug trafficking and illegal use of drugs.
Evidence seized from the suspects such as packets of drugs, Hong Kong dollars and pataca notes is displayed during Wednesday’s special press conference about the case at the pressroom of the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters. Photo: Iong Tat Choi
