Police Arrest Four Over Self-storage Drugs Operation

Police said on Friday that they had smashed a drug trafficking syndicate that relied on self-storage facilities and couriers to store and transport drugs, seizing illegal drugs worth more than HK$78 million.

The force said four men who were arrested on Wednesday are suspected of being members of the gang, or their customers.

Three of them were due to appear before Eastern Magistracy on Saturday on drug trafficking charges.

Police said they believe a gang rented 16 self-storage spaces in Kowloon and the New Territories to store cocaine, ice and ketamine which was hidden inside various objects, including beds and pillows.

Deliverymen from logistic companies were instructed to send the items containing drugs to the buyers, in a bid to reduce the gang's risk of being arrested, the force added.

Chan Kong-ming, a superintendent from the force's narcotics bureau, said they are investigating whether the self-storage companies and couriers broke the law, adding that deliverymen should now be on the alert.

"Generally, people show up to pick up stuff from the courier. But in this case, the customers only arranged the delivery on the phone," Chan explained.

"They would give passwords to the [self-storage] units and tell couriers to pick things up by themselves, and then... maybe even give them another passcode to put the item in another unit, while the whole process was recorded by security cameras in the units."

Separately, police said they had arrested a 17-year-old in Tsuen Wan on Wednesday after allegedly finding cocaine and ketamine worth HK$28 million in his possession.

The teenager's case was mentioned at West Kowloon Court on Friday morning.