{"id":118320,"date":"2026-08-18T09:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T09:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/118320\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T09:26:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T09:26:13","slug":"hong-kong-customs-arrests-10-over-hk56-million-cannabis-haul-bound-for-europe-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/118320\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong customs arrests 10 over HK$56 million cannabis haul bound for Europe, Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Hong Kong customs has arrested 10 people and seized suspected cannabis buds worth an estimated HK$56 million (US$7 million) in a month-long operation targeting a syndicate accused of smuggling the drug from Southeast Asia to Europe and Africa via the city.<\/p>\n<p>Code-named Fire Mesh, the operation ran from July 13 to Monday this week and resulted in the seizure of about 240kg (529lbs) of cannabis buds, the <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/hong-kong-customs?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Customs and Excise Department<\/a> said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cWe targeted transit baggage from Southeast Asia for inspection. The average visitor arriving in or transiting through Hong Kong should carry different types of clothing and personal items for a long-haul journey,\u201d Senior Inspector Chan Kai-hin said.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cHowever, X-ray scans showed that the luggage contained no personal items, and instead revealed suspicious uniform parcels tightly packed inside the suitcases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">He added that another indication was the condition of the suitcases.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Those used to transport the suspected cannabis were new, unlike the luggage typically used by tourists, which might show signs of wear and tear, including scratches, stickers and labels from previous trips, the department said.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Chow Kai-kwong, a senior customs investigator, said an investigation was launched immediately based on the passenger information displayed on the baggage. Ten people were subsequently identified and arrested at the airport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hong Kong customs has arrested 10 people and seized suspected cannabis buds worth an estimated HK$56 million (US$7&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[289,17086,26142,266,4,17302,6182,23116,12149,3046,7000,31841,2713,382,59288],"class_list":["post-118320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-europe","tag-africa","tag-british","tag-cannabis","tag-customs","tag-europe","tag-french","tag-hong-kong","tag-july","tag-may","tag-police","tag-southeast-asia","tag-thai","tag-tuesday","tag-us","tag-x-ray"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}