Hong Kong police have seized HK$33 million (US$4.25 million) worth of cocaine hidden inside green hollow tubes disguised as flower stems and mixed in with a stash of real roses in a storage facility in Kwai Chung.
The narcotics bureau set up an ambush at the warehouse with officers lying in wait on Kwai Sau Road on Saturday afternoon.
They stopped two men outside the facility when the suspects left a flat, according to Acting Chief Inspector Law Kai-yin of the bureau.
About 30kg of cocaine was found concealed in bundles of green plastic tubes that were made to look like flower stems and hidden inside two cartoon boxes being carried by the pair.
During a search of the 1,300 square feet storage unit, another 12kg of cocaine was found hidden in green plastic flower stems inside another box.
Officers also found 25 boxes of roses nearby.
The total haul of 42kg of cocaine was estimated to be worth HK$33 million.
“No matter how drug syndicates try to disguise their drug trafficking activities and make our investigation more difficult, concealing drugs inside legal cargo is not practical,” Law said.
He said the storage unit had been operating for several days, and the pair had been assigned by a syndicate to oversee the facility and retrieve the drugs.
Investigators said they swooped on the facility just as a haul was about to be delivered.
The two local men, aged 19 and 26, who claimed to be a waiter and unemployed, were arrested and each charged with two counts of drug trafficking.
They will appear in West Kowloon Court on Monday.
