Hong Kong Customs arrested two men and seized HK$3.4 million worth of ketamine, cocaine and methamphetamine in back-to-back operations at Hong Kong International Airport and a city-centre hotel on 1–2 April. The agency disclosed details on 3 April. The first suspect, arriving from Bangkok, had 3.1 kg of ketamine hidden in food packets. A day later, investigators traced a second trafficking ring to Yau Ma Tei, seizing another 3.4 kg of assorted narcotics. Customs says it will intensify advanced passenger profiling and focus on flights from “high-incidence origins” in Southeast Asia. Corporations sending staff through those hubs should expect more random inspections and allow additional transit time. Trafficking carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a HK$5 million fine. In 2025, 46 per cent of all airport drug seizures involved passengers on legitimate business trips doubling as couriers, sometimes unwittingly. Travel-risk teams should remind employees never to carry parcels for third parties and to keep baggage under constant supervision, especially on routes flagged by Customs.
