Two African asylum seekers were arrested by customs officers for alleged drug trafficking after being identified as the recipients of a drug parcel.
Last Thursday, when the customs officers inspected an airmail parcel that arrived from Argentina at Hong Kong International Airport, they found about four kilograms of suspected cocaine concealed inside three metal parts, according to a government release.
The estimated market value of the suspected drug was about HK$4.8 million (US$612,897).
After a follow-up investigation, the officers found the two suspects involved in the case.
They intercepted the two men, a 42-year-old man from Mozambique who arrived in Hong Kong in 2015, and a 39-year-old man from Nigeria who arrived in 2014, in Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok, Oriental Daily reported.
Both suspects claimed they were unemployed. But officers suspected that the two men just claimed to be asylum seekers as an excuse to come to Hong Kong to cover their true identity as drug dealers.
As the two men had been staying in Hong Kong for a few years, police will also investigate if they were involved in other drug trafficking cases, to try to see if they are part of an international drug syndicate.