Police seized 610kg of cocaine hidden in metal drums of frozen juice, with a market value of around $600 million to mark the second largest seizure in terms of volume by the force thus far.

Acting on information, Narcotics Bureau officers searched two cargo containers at a logistics company in Tin Shui Wai last Friday. The containers arrived from Sao Paulo, Brazil.

In one of the containers, they seized a total of 610kg of cocaine that was hidden in seven metal drums of frozen juice. The market value of the drugs is estimated to be $620 million.

During a follow-up action last Saturday, officers arrested a man in a Kwai Chung industrial building on the charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug.

Briefing the media on the case this morning, Police Narcotics Bureau Superintendent (Operations) Chan Kong-ming noted that the drug traffickers had used metal drums instead of plastic buckets to conceal the drugs to make it more difficult and time-consuming for officers to dismantle them.

The drugs were also given additional protection so that they would not be easily detected by devices. Police may not have been able to detect that there was something inside the metal drums had they not used a highly efficient X-ray machine.

“It took almost two days for our officers to dismantle every drum because we (had) to physically open each of them,” he said.