Police Nail Smugglers 'who Used Wood To Hide Ice'

Police said they have broken up a smuggling operation that they say used a novel method of using chemicals to infuse the drug ice into wooden pieces that were being imported.

Superintendent Alan Chung told the media on Thursday that police made the discovery after they raided a subdivided flat in Kwai Chung, which they suspected was being used as a drug manufacturing facility.

Officers arrested two men, and said they found two bags which contained three kilogrammes of wood, 600 grammes of cocaine, a small amount of ice, and drug-making equipment.

Police said the suspects were trying to extract the ice, which had been soaked into the wood and attached to the imported furniture.

"The drug dealers overseas actually ... used some chemical methods to soak the ice drug into the wood, and they made wooden furniture and [exported it] to Hong Kong in normal manner," Chung said.

Traffickers who get the wood then retrieve the ice by using high heat to boil the wood with some chemicals, police believe.

Chung said they were unsure of the amount of meth that could be extracted from the wood as they were still waiting for lab results.

Describing the method as "novel", Chung noted that they have seen similar methods in cases related to cocaine, but not for meth.

One of the suspects was remanded in custody by Kowloon City Magistrates Court on Wednesday on charges of manufacturing and trafficking dangerous drugs, while the other was on police bail.