Make-up Used As Concealer For Ketamine, Police Say

Police on Sunday said they believe a drug syndicate had smuggled in enough raw materials into Hong Kong from Thailand, to manufacture HK$23 million worth of ketamine by mixing them in with powder purportedly to be used in make-up products.

Officers say they seized 130 kilogrammes of powder during a raid on a unit in an industrial building on Wai Yip Street in Kwun Tong on Friday.

They believe ingredients for ketamine were mixed in with 100 kilos of the powder, but would require further processing to manufacture around 50 kilos of the drug.

Officers say had the alleged syndicate tried to extract the drug from the powder, it would have involved a chemical process that would have generated a lot of heat and possibly even generate toxic gases.

A 26-year-old local man was arrested during the raid, and is due to appear in Kwun Tong court on Monday on a drug trafficking charge.