A 42-year-old Hong Kong man and a 44-year-old woman were separately arrested by the police on Tuesday as they were the named recipients of two air mail parcels containing thousands of .22-caliber bullets.
On Monday, the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department at Asia Airfreight Terminal intercepted three suspicious fan heater packages containing 3,400 of the bullets, Sing Pao reported.
The police traced the man who held a Hong Kong identity card to a warehouse in Tuen Mun and the woman to a village house in Lok Ma Chau on Tuesday noon.
The police then seized another two parcels containing an additional 3,000 of the same caliber bullets and parts of a Colt pistol at the man’s office in Lok Ma Chau.
The police said the two people claimed to be logistic workers, Wen Wei Po reported. They reportedly did not know each other and had no known triad background.
In Hong Kong, the maximum penalty for illegal possession of firearms is a fine of HK$100,000 (US$12,874) and a 14-year jail term.