Tripartite team: Shenzhen Customs Director General Zou Zhiwu, Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee, US Consul-General James Cunningham and Commissioner of Customs & Excise Timothy Tong celebrate the shutting down of a cocaine ring.

Hong Kong and Shenzhen Customs officers, and the US Drug Enforcement Administration, have shut down a Colombia-based cocaine-trafficking syndicate, arresting nine people and seizing $105 million worth of the drug.

Those arrested include three Colombians, a Venezuelan, three Mainlanders and two Hong Kong people.

Attending a Customs & Excise Department ceremony today, Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee praised the officers for their excellent work.

He said law-enforcement agencies of different jurisdictions have to work closely to bring to justice international criminals engaged in transnational drug activity.

"Hong Kong has been maintaining close ties with its counterparts to adopt a multi-pronged approach to counter drug trafficking and drug abuse, including collecting and analysing intelligence, co-operating with law-enforcement agencies and judicial authorities, and sharing experience and intelligence."

Commissioner of Customs & Excise Timothy Tong said the success of this case shows the trust among the three parties.

Operation details

The haul resulted from Hong Kong's initiative in smashing the "1.11 mega drug-trafficking case" this year, to detect the smuggling of cocaine into Hong Kong and the Mainland.

US intelligence showed a huge cocaine haul had been delivered to the southern part of the Mainland and syndicate members would seek buyers in Hong Kong. Officers then tracked down a targeted person and conducted close surveillance on him. When he departed for Shenzhen at Lo Wu Control Point in January, Hong Kong contacted Shenzhen authorities asking them to watch the target.

The law-enforcement agencies then investigated a Colombia-based cocaine-trafficking syndicate active in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, and took enforcement action with the co-ordination of the General Administration of Customs.

Undercover Hong Kong officers obtained a 1kg cocaine sample from the syndicate in Kowloon in mid-March. Parties on the Mainland and in Hong Kong meticulously analysed intelligence and monitored the syndicate members' activities across the boundary.

On March 15, Shenzhen said they had arrested two Hong Kong people and a Mainlander in an operation, seized some drugs and obtained information on the drug-storage centre. Hong Kong Customs then tightened its surveillance on the ring members.

On March 16, acting upon notification that Shenzhen officers had seized a large quantity of cocaine from the storage centre, Hong Kong Customs arrested two Colombians. The 32-year-old man was charged with trafficking while the 27-year-old was charged with conspiracy in trafficking and drug possession.