This is What $77 Million in Cocaine Looks Like
- Posted on September 19, 2011 at 10:11am by
Christopher Santarelli
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(The Blaze/AP) — Hong Kong police have made their biggest cocaine bust ever, seizing more than 1,200 pounds (560 kilograms) of the drug worth about 600 million Hong Kong dollars ($77 million) and arresting eight people.
Narcotics bureau officers acting on a tip carried out raids at a suburban warehouse and other locations across the city starting Friday, police said Monday. The five men and three women arrested included five Mexican nationals, an American and a Colombian.
The Mexicans and the American were charged with drug trafficking and appeared in court Monday. They did not enter pleas or apply for bail and the case was adjourned until Nov. 14, local broadcaster RTHK said.
News reports said the other two arrested were a Colombian woman and her Chinese husband, both Hong Kong residents.
Police said the warehouse was believed to be a drug packaging and storage center. Police said the drugs were hidden in heaps of plastic engine oil or automotive transmission fluid containers for recycling, according to local newspapers.
“Traffickers have used different ways to disguise their dealings, but this is the first time police have seen recycled materials used,” Narcotics Bureau Chief Superintendent John Paul Ribeiro said, according to the South China Morning Post.
Police said it may take more than 100 officers up to two more days to finish searching the 10,000-square foot (930-square meter) warehouse, the Hong Kong Standard reported.
Ribeiro said the suspects had been in touch with local dealers but wouldn’t rule out the possibility that the drugs were destined for mainland China or other countries, the Post reported.
Drug trafficking carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of HK$5 million ($644,000) in Hong Kong.
The seizure tops last year’s haul of 820 pounds (372 kilograms) of cocaine from a suburban house.
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Comments (55)
SkunkWorks
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 6:13pmhmmm South American cocaine and Mexico drug runner in china that very interesting. Did the one U.S. citizen bring the U.S. guns with him? Because we all know that when there are Mexican drug runners there are U.S. made guns.
Keep up the good work Mexico, keep the stereo type alive.
I hope China handles these fools like they do all other drug runners. Instant death penalty
Report Post »Fina Biscotti
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 4:15pmThere was a BIG Bust recently – of COCAINE being shipped around the country – in BAND EQUIPMENT.
Report Post »DEADFACEBOOK
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 3:51pmnow all i need is a straw big enough to consume it with!
Report Post »hojo
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 2:29pmThey are trying to save the planet by using recycled materials.
Report Post »webrat55
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 1:58pmBet Its Un-Cut Also…Damn
Report Post »tranymike
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 1:46pmyou can’t get around what people want. we live in a country founded on you don’t tell me what to do and if you do i will do it just to prove i can. i drank in high school because it was cool but after 21 i stoped there was no fun in it any more. there is one thing i started because i wasn‘t aloud to do and i’m stuck with it today and that is smoking. so just stop telling people what to do and as for the murder thing i belive are rights come from god and he only has ten rules if you break one you should be sent to him
Report Post »avgconservative
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 2:24pmCan I recommend a book on grammar and spelling?
Watch the liberals degrade humanity:
Report Post »http://FlipTheLib.com
Non-regulator
Posted on September 20, 2011 at 7:39amThaink yu on the recommendation AVG.
Report Post »bigdaddyt46
Posted on September 21, 2011 at 8:09amyou should check ecigs out. i switched to them over 9 months ago and it was a good decision. contact me if you want to know more
Report Post »cyclops
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 12:57pmWell, what else is new? Just go across the border from Texas and you can get your share…..
Report Post »johnj1952
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 12:16pmWatchout, Odumbo and the rest of the left will start putting a TAX on it.
Report Post »sissykatz
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 12:46pmWhy can’t we have laws that carry that kind of sentence??? I would bet there would be a lot
Report Post »less drug dealers here.
American Soldier (Separated)
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 1:23pmIf people are going to use drugs, which they will regardless of the war on drugs or prohibition, we might as well be gaining tax revenues. Why not, instead of drug cartels getting the profits of these drugs, can’t Americans maintain the profits? Prohibition doesn’t work and all it does is emphasis the criminal element in society. Take out their source of income and you can curb crime. What else can they do for money? Home invasion? Robberies? Come and rob me, you won’t get any money but you sure as hell with get a few quarters worth of lead in your chest.
How would criminal organizations fund themselves without the massive profits from drugs?
Report Post »santramir
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 11:57amthe drug demand challenge can only be defeated at home. colombian official drugs confications in colombian territory for the year 2011 to august: 49 tonns of cocaine, 37 tonns of cocain manufacturing base, 197 tonnes of marihuana and 490 kilograms of heroine. just 8 months, 285 tonns of drugs combined in 240 days from just ine country is more than one tonn of mixed drugs a day.
Report Post »BubbaT
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 11:24amThat’s sure to piss somebody off. Now to auction it off to the highest bidder which drug family is gonna win???
Report Post »santramir
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 11:09amisn’t it ironic to compare the cocaine to “engines lubricating oil”. would not it be good for this comments that someone tells if 560 thousand grams is just half a million people’s supply for a single weekend? so how many addicts are and how many tonns a day are required to fulfil the cocaine demand just in the usa?. then make the numbers of cash involved in this product market so anyone would immediately understand the need to legalize this crap at least to stop spending the limited supply of families food‘s money in some other’s vices. ups i remember thenax to progresives the money supply is not limited at all.
Report Post »MrKnowItAll
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 11:08amIt’s like drinking. You don’t do it anymore. And you don’t do it any less. Poor kids today getting tricked into thinking Meth is Cocaine. Know or suspect a Drug Dealer? Get rid of them no matter how. Our Kids are being destroyed. THIS includes Doctors.
Report Post »itsmyfirstday
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 10:58amThank God the drugs are off the street.
Report Post »pretendplaydoh
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 11:25amHey, come on now! Those dealers were just creating value in the market. If you dislike government regulation, you should be on the side of the dealers and drug producers because their business is being threatened by the government!
Report Post »YesNdeedie
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 10:57amYou sure this wasn’t being stashed in the oval office?
Report Post »Keele
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 10:53amMy house would be clean from top to bottom in under an hour.
Report Post »AxelPhantom
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 10:47amWhat is the penalty in China for running drugs?
Report Post »thegreatcarnac
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 11:20amTwo large choptsticks up the rectum and when the pain is unbearable…a gun shot in the back of the head.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 10:46amWow, that’s enough to keep you awake for a few…decades.
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 10:52amcenturies
Report Post »santramir
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 11:11amdecades? centuries? can some user tell the audience the monthly average cocaine user consumption in grams?.
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 11:47amA lethal dose (ld50) is considered to be 500mg , one half of a gram. using this as a base point, 28 grams is slightly less than an ounce, this is 56 ‘doses times twelve hundred pounds, times 16 ounces, equals 537600 divided by 365 days equals just under 1473 years.
google cocaine then advance search dosage…….
Report Post »Libertarian B 4 Libertarians Were Cool
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 10:45amTime to de-criminalize all drugs, and stop this waste of our resources and the enrichment of the drug cartels. Freedom means you are your own property, and therefore, by definition, can use, control, and dispose of it as you wish. No, children shouldn’t have access as they are under custodianship until they are adults. And, yes employers are free to drug test as a precondition of employment.
Report Post »Spirit 72
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 11:01amYeah, right ! Brilliant !
And while we are at it, lets legalize murder! Ok, then let’s go for no speed limits! After all, they hinder our inner passion to do whatever we want! How dare the government impede our “pursuit of happiness.”
A few libertarians can think, but those who do not sure are an embarrassment.
Report Post »sWampy
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 11:05amThat would be perfectly fine, if the government tested people before giving them welfare checks, food stamps, low income loans, student loans, etc. And if they choose to stay to high to hold down a job, they are taken and put into work gangs where they are forced to provide for themselves.
Report Post »pretendplaydoh
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 11:26amHey, this government regulation of a particular form of trade is against your tea party anti-regulation platform, is it not? These people are simply creating value in a free-market system and the government is trying to shut them down for it.
Be consistent, please!
Report Post »Libertarian B 4 Libertarians Were Cool
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 11:28amSpirit 72
Legalize murder? You sound like a hysteric!
Drug use is a victimless crime. Murder is the diametric opposite. Try not to be so intellectually sloppy!
Spirit 72
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 11:53amAnother disconnect from reality!
Drug addiction not involved in the majority of theft? …not involved in murder when theft goes bad? Nice to know that drug altered consciousness behind the wheel never caused a wreck, either!
Report Post »Thank you for the clarification that the libertarians who have “lost it” are drug addicts and not in their right mind. Which also tells me I am wasting my time here. Adios
KidCharlemagne
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 11:56am@Spirit 72
You’re off your rocker for suggesting that Budweiser be outlawed once again…
You want martial law?….then try making Budweiser & Coors illegal once again….it’ll be a free-for-all in every small town in America as violent gangsters fight one another in the streets to establish their dominance in illegal liquor trafficking.
Report Post »American Soldier (Separated)
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 1:31pmFor all those people that say that there will be more theft, more murder, more crime if it’s legalized…. the thing is, we have laws that punish those offenders already. Why is it perfectly fine to punish someone, by law, for doing something to their own body which gives them the POSSIBILITY of being more violent or criminal?
Are we to criminalize people’s potential? Then why are you against gun control? It’s the same damn argument the left makes against guns. You having a gun gives you more potential to do bodily harm on another human being. Are they correct? Sure, the gun can be used in a very lethal manner against innocent people just like a drug user can have more potential of causing harm to others. Should those extra levels of potential criminalize the behavior or use of a product? Drugs is just another THING that can be used and abused, just like a gun or a car or alcohol.
Those that are afraid of drugs need to get over it. Just like guns don’t kill people, people do, drugs don’t kill/hurt people the user does. Prosecute them if they commit a crime but if they are capable of being responsible adults while using drugs recreational (similar to alcohol) then they should be able to. If you are not responsible with your recreational drug use and you end up hurting someone, damaging property or commit any various crime, then you will be prosecuted and sentenced for your act just like anyone else would.
Report Post »Libertarian B 4 Libertarians Were Cool
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 3:16pmSpirit 72
I have never been drunk or high in my life! Way to jump to conclusions, which isn’t a surprise based on your facile and sophomoric arguments.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 10:40amThe questions of the bust are mainly this:
Is the tip off from a rival drug cartel operating in the area?
Report Post »How much more was missed even with this one large bust?
How much of a loss is this really for the various cartels anyhow?
KidCharlemagne
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 10:39amAnother win for organized crime:
“The contributing factor to the sudden increase of felonies was the organization of crime, especially in large cities. Because liquor was no longer legally available, the public turned to gangsters who readily took on the bootlegging industry and supplied them with liquor. On account of the industry being so profitable, more gangsters became involved in the money-making business.”
No wonder organized crime is so profitable these days….the government provides the free service of eliminating (through arrests) smaller competitors in the marketplace and removing (through confiscation) their inventories from the supply chain to keep prices from falling any further, thereby attracting even more violent criminals to the industry as a result.
If you owned a gas station on a city block that had 5 other gas stations operating on it, then you’d love it if the government came by and shut those other 5 gas stations down. You could charge as much as you wanted to for gas then.
Report Post »roadhog
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 10:37amThe Mexicans Can’t run across the Border for home in Hong Kong. They will be in Jail for 25 years Mexican just want to sell the Drugs that no one else wants to Sell.
Report Post »Bartlebee06
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 10:33am@ Drago, you sir are a racist.
Report Post »WeMustNeverForget
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 10:31amGlad that stuff will not be hitting the streets… or so I hope.
Report Post »unequivocally_right
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 10:40amI doubt the seized drugs will be destroyed as there is too much money to be made. The Chinese government will sell it and reap the profits.
Report Post »banjarmon
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 10:26amSend that stuff to the WH and let BO use it to go to LA LA land!!!
Report Post »drago
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 10:19am5 messican nationals, just shows these slime balls are everywhere….a totally worthless people….
Report Post »Bartlebee06
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 10:31amDude you cant classify an entire nationality by what some its members do. That is the sheer definition of racism.
Report Post »IvanK
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 10:41am@ BARTLEBEE06,
Report Post »and then we have people like you who feel compelled to point the finger every opportunity they get.
Glass houses homeboy!
Bartlebee06
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 11:05am@ IVANK, he said “a totally worthless people”. Do you really think that ALL Mexicans are totally worthless? Thats a little strong dont you think. Yes I will point that out on a site where we are supposed to be having intelligent discourse. I am white boy who is tired of haters and racists giving us all a bad name. I will admit that Mexican society is riddled with corruption and debauchery but lets not condemn an entire race for the acts of some or even most.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 11:17amWhile I agree we should not judge an entire nation by the actions of a few – er, make that by MANY, MANY, MANY…
It is NOT “racism,” since Mexicans are caucasians, and passing judgement on an entire nation is not passing judgement on an entire race.
Personally, I have issue with the concept of “race” – we come in all SHADES, but, nobody can seem to define what makes you one race, or another, genetically. The notion of “race” was originally applied to continents of people. Now, we use it to define VISUALLY DIFFERENT people.
The concept itself divides us.
How about, THE HUMAN RACE?
No, I’m not some humanist, I just see too many inconsistencies in the “definitions”.
The obama adminstration panders to Hispanics by offering “Caucasian of Latino decent” as a race, among other customized “races” on the U.S. Census ! The census bureau recognizes that they are also Caucasian, but, refuses to require them to report that way. Instead of educating people, we reinforce their separatist, RACIST concepts of race.
The same is true for “African-Americans” – what are black people who are not American? African-Italian? African-German? African-British? NOPE ! ONLY in America, do we DIVIDE people like this!
Report Post ».
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Bartlebee06
Posted on September 19, 2011 at 11:59am@ TOMFERRARI…. touche!
Report Post »