Hong Kong customs seizes 2.6 tonnes of drugs worth HK$1 billion in first quarter

Hong Kong customs has confiscated more than 2.6 tonnes of illegal drugs valued at HK$1.1 billion (US$141.8 million) and arrested 102 people in an air-land-sea anti-narcotics operation in the first quarter of 2025, the Post has learned.

Latest figures obtained by the Post revealed that the haul marked a 33 per cent increase compared with the 1.96 tonnes of narcotics worth HK$800 million that were confiscated during the same period last year. In the first three months of 2024, authorities rounded up 93 suspects.

“The amount of narcotics seized through seaborne channels tripled to 1,277kg (2,815lbs) this year, compared with 320kg in the same period last year,” a source said.

The source added that officers were gathering intelligence and monitoring the situation to determine if drug dealers had shifted to seaborne channels to smuggle illegal substances into the city.

One notable case involved the seizure of 680kg of suspected crystal meth, valued at HK$360 million, hidden in heating panels within a seaborne shipment from Mexico on February 10. Customs officers arrested three men in the case.

In the same month, cannabis worth more than HK$100 million was confiscated from a fishing boat in the city’s southern waters – the largest drug bust involving such a vessel in a decade.