{"id":55256,"date":"2019-12-17T16:31:12","date_gmt":"2019-12-17T08:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=55256"},"modified":"2019-12-17T19:48:35","modified_gmt":"2019-12-17T11:48:35","slug":"mexico-the-origin-of-hong-kongs-largest-meth-seizure-in-a-decade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=55256","title":{"rendered":"Mexico the origin of Hong Kong’s largest meth seizure in a decade"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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HONG KONG, Dec 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Hong Kong customs announced its largest seizure of methamphetamine in a decade on Tuesday \u2013 110kg of Ice with an estimated street value of HK$77 million (US$10 million) that originated in Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The seizure points towards the growing presence of meth made by Mexican cartels in Asia, a region where the local “Golden Triangle” gangs traditionally dominate production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customs officials said the contraband was discovered in an air cargo shipment that originated in Mexico and came via Alaska.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following a tip-off from overseas law enforcement, they X-rayed the shipment which was listed as being filled with cheap plastic sequins from Mexico, something officers said made little sense because such beads could easily be bought locally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inside they found 120 plastic lunch boxes filled with high grade methamphetamine and packets of fabric softener used to mask the smell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is the largest meth trafficking case Hong Kong Customs has detected in the past 10 years,” Commander Philip Chan, from the customs department’s drug bureau, told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chan said some of the Ice may have been intended for local consumption but the majority was likely headed to further destinations overseas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of Asia’s meth comes from “Golden Triangle” border areas between Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and southwest China which are now pumping unprecedented quantities of synthetic drugs into the global markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A study by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says that Southeast Asia’s crime groups are netting more than $60 billion a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most successful regional cartels is “Sam Gor”, a crime syndicate officials say is led by a Chinese-born Canadian citizen named Tse Chi Lop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But product from Mexico – which traditionally caters to the North American market – is increasingly showing up across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Mexico in recent years has become a popular manufacturing place because of its geographical advantage,” Chan said, with cartels shipping both north and increasingly across the Pacific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added his officers would reach out to law enforcement agencies overseas as part of the investigation. No arrests have so far been made over the seized shipment. — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HONG KONG, Dec 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Hong Kong customs announced its largest seizure of methamphetamine in a decade on Tuesday \u2013 110kg of Ice with an estimated street value of HK$77 million (US$10 million) that originated in Mexico. The seizure points towards the growing presence of meth made by Mexican cartels in Asia, a region where the local “Golden […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":34127,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208,215],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55256"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}