Three teenagers were caught in a drug bust last week, and two of them admitted that they worked for a Hong Kong drug-trafficking gang, the Judiciary Police (PJ) have announced.
PJ spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei told a special press conference on Friday that 44.67 grammes of cocaine, ketamine and Happy Powder with an estimated street value of 140,000 patacas were seized in the operation.
The trio are local residents: a jobless 18-year-old male surnamed Wong who told the police that he dropped-out in Form 2, a 17-year-old Form 1 pupil surnamed Ao Ieong, and a 15-year-old girl surnamed Lei who told the police the police that she is a Form 1 drop-out.
According to the spokeswoman, PJ officers received a tip-off a week ago about a Hong Kong drug-trafficking gang hiring local residents to sell drugs to customers at night entertainment venues in Zape.
Officers identified Wong and Ao Ieong and the hotel where they were staying. PJ officers put the duo under surveillance near the hotel in Zape on Thursday night. Both left the hotel at about 11 p.m. and went by scooter to the Rua Central de T’oi San area where they looked around and seemed to be waiting for someone. They suddenly rushed back to the scooter and tried to drive off. The officers intercepted them but did not find any drugs on them. Afterwards, the officers took them to their hotel room where they found the 15-year-old girl surnamed Lei and seized 57 packets weighing 27.79 grammes of ketamine, 20 packets weighing 6.83 grammes of cocaine, and 10 packets weighing 10.05 grammes of Happy Powder, according to the spokeswoman.
Upon questioning, the girl told the police that she’s Wong’s girlfriend who told her to wait for him in the room, but insisted that she had not participated in any drug activities. Wong admitted that he had been recruited by a Hong Kong drug gang after multiple referrals through a “job recruitment group” a month ago, after which he asked his friend Ao Ieong to join him. The gang sent the drugs from Hong Kong to Macau through express delivery by hiding the drugs inside electronic products such as printers, the spokeswoman said, adding that after they had received the “goods”, the two boys would wait for the gang’s instructions of where to sell them.
The two boys sold the packets for between 1,000 and 1,500 patacas each and were paid 90 patacas for each packet they sold. Each of them had earnt 15,000 patacas so far.
The investigating officers believe that the drug trafficking activities went on for more than a month and that the two boys sold drugs worth more than 200,000 patacas, according to the spokeswoman.
Wong and Ao Ieong were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Friday, facing charges of trafficking in narcotic and psychotropic substances, the spokeswoman said.
The age of criminal responsibility in Macau is 16. The 15-year-old girl caught in the drug bust cannot be charged with a crime but can be ordered to undergo counselling.
