In a recent anti-drug operation, Hong Kong authorities take 29 individuals into custody, among them a 13-year-old boy.
In separate but significant anti-drug operations, authorities in Germany and Hong Kong have made numerous arrests and seized large quantities of illicit substances.
In Germany, police arrested 24 individuals, including 21 men and three women, aged between 13 and 66, as part of Operation Bluesmoke. The youngest person arrested was a 13-year-old boy. The operation targeted three suspected drug storage units, resulting in the seizure of a variety of drugs.
The seized drugs included 590 etomidate-laced e-cigarette pods, 1.5kg of cocaine, 560 grams of ketamine, 580 grams of cannabis buds, 400 grams of methamphetamine, and 25,000 Ecstasy pills. The total street value of the seized drugs is estimated to be around €5 million (US$5.6 million).
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, police conducted an operation this week that led to the arrest of 29 individuals. The authorities seized a street value of HK$3.5 million (US$449,000) worth of suspected drugs. The operation, code-named Bluesmoke, saw the arrest of 10 adults, with ages ranging from 22 to 56 years old.
The Hong Kong operation used social media platforms to locate the three drug storage units. Posing as buyers between May and August this year, police identified storage units in an industrial building in Kwun Tong, a tenement building in Sham Shui Po, and a village house in Tai Po.
The occupations of the arrested individuals in Hong Kong were diverse, including student, renovation worker, cashier, driver, delivery worker, business owner, and unemployed. The details of the operation in Germany are still unfolding, with further investigations underway.
