Teenager suspected of trafficking drugs worth HK$3m
A teenager has been arrested for allegedly trafficking HK$3 million worth of suspected ketamine and crack cocaine.
Investigator Matthew Shum of the Customs and Excise Department said on Thursday officers stopped and searched the 17-year-old near Cheung Sha Wan the previous day, finding four grams of suspected crack cocaine.
Police arrested the teenager and took him to his flat for further investigation. Shum said officers found 5.5kg of suspected ketamine at the residence, as well as 10 grams of suspected crack cocaine and drug packaging tools, with an estimated value of HK$3 million.
Customs suspected the teenager, who said he was unemployed, was responsible for packing and distributing the drugs. The residence was likely being used as a drug storage and distribution centre, with the narcotics set to be supplied to the West Kowloon area, they said.
In Hong Kong, trafficking in a dangerous drug is punishable by up to life in prison and a HK$5 million fine.
Police previously warned that dealers had been offering free drugs to teenagers as young as 14 years old, intending to get them hooked and later recruit them as traffickers when they ran out of money to fund their addictions.
The force cautioned that young people found guilty of drug trafficking would face legal repercussions and a lifelong criminal record.
A police insider earlier told the
Post that dealers also lured youngsters into drug trafficking by using their peers to influence them, targeting those who spent their nights hanging around playgrounds at public housing estates and parks. Police urged parents to seek help promptly if they had suspicions about their children’s unusual sources of income.
Officers arrested 107 people between last December and January this year, with 12 of them aged from 14 to 20 and detained on suspicion of trafficking in dangerous drugs and possession of illegal substances.