Hong Kong police arrest 6, seize HK$2.4 million of drug ‘space oil’ products, raw materials
Suspects, including family of four, were arrested in three separate operations conducted within 24 hours, police say
Hong Kong police have arrested six people, including a family of four, and seized raw materials and finished products of the newly emerging narcotic, known as “space oil”, valued at HK$2.4 million (US$308,360), in three separate operations within 24 hours.
The force said on Friday that part of the haul, discovered the day before, was confiscated in two residential flats in Sha Tin and Tai Po, which were used as production centres for e-cigarette capsules containing the anaesthetic etomidate, also known as space oil.
Etomidate is regulated as a Part 1 poison under the law and could only be prescribed by a doctor in Hong Kong. Possession of the controlled drug is punishable by up to two years in prison and a HK$100,000 fine.
One of the cases was uncovered by anti-triad officers from the Yau Tsim police district in a public housing flat at Sha Kok Estate in Sha Tin at about 6pm on Thursday.
Senior Inspector Chan Yuen-fun of the anti-triad squad said intelligence revealed that the flat was used to produce space oil capsules intended for distribution at entertainment venues in the Kowloon West region.
He said officers seized 233 grams of etomidate in powder form, 250 millilitres of the controlled drug, 168 space oil capsules, and around 3,000 empty cartridges in the flat. The seized items were estimated to be worth about HK$350,000.
