Hong Kong police brought a Brazilian national to court today after he arrived at the territory’s airport carrying nearly three kilograms of cocaine, valued at more than €210,000.
In a statement released on Sunday night, Hong Kong Customs revealed that officers intercepted a 30-year-old man who arrived at the airport from São Paulo, Brazil, via Doha, Qatar. During the inspection, agents discovered the cocaine—with an estimated market value of about 1.9 million Hong Kong dollars (€212,000)—hidden inside a secret compartment built into the passenger’s checked baggage.
The man was officially arrested on Saturday and appeared before a judge at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts today, while police emphasized that the investigation remains active.
Following the arrest, Hong Kong Customs vowed to continue utilizing a risk-assessment approach, focusing specifically on screening passengers arriving from high-risk regions. Under Hong Kong law, drug trafficking is an extremely serious offense punishable by a fine of up to 5 million Hong Kong dollars (€600,000) and life imprisonment.
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This arrest follows a string of recent drug seizures tied to traffic from South America. On June 7, authorities announced the detention of a female passenger arriving from Brazil with 3.4 kilograms of cocaine concealed inside two statues in her checked luggage. Furthermore, last December, Customs logged a historic first by uncovering a major drug trafficking operation hidden within the hull of a long-haul vessel arriving from Brazil.
In that December operation, customs officials seized approximately 417 kilograms of cocaine with a market value estimated at 256 million Hong Kong dollars (€28.1 million). Driven by intelligence analysis and risk assessments, police suspected that criminal syndicates were using the underwater structure of a 333-meter-long container ship to conceal narcotics. The ensuing investigation led to the arrest of two men.
During a press conference detailing the maritime bust, the head of the Customs Drug Investigation Bureau, Lau Yuk-lung, revealed that the contraband was located at a depth of 11 meters below sea level and retrieved with the assistance of underwater robots. Authorities believe the criminal organization intended to use the commercial ship as a mobile floating drug depot to distribute cocaine across various regional markets.
This follows a previous 2022 case where Hong Kong police seized 16.5 kilograms of cocaine, worth 14 million Hong Kong dollars (€1.8 million), hidden inside two out of 230 bales of cotton fibers shipped from Brazil, resulting in the arrest of three suspects.
