Crime | PJ seizes liquid cocaine with a street value of MOP24 million

The Judiciary Police (PJ) seized eight bottles of liquid cocaine, amounting to approximately 7.47 liters and with an approximate street value of 24.66 million patacas, the PJ reported yesterday.
This was the first time the PJ had detected liquid cocaine in bottles of alcohol. The police department arrested the two smugglers responsible for importing and distributing the bottles of cocaine in Macau. The two suspects are a 39-year-old Macau resident surnamed Cheang, and a 19-year-old Hong Kong resident surnamed Lau.
According to the PJ, they solved this case based on police intelligence shared by the Hong Kong police department, which informed the Macau police authority that there was a chance that some drugs had been shipped from South America to Macau through Hong Kong.
On the afternoon of January 29, Cheang collected a package from a postal site located in the central district. He was immediately intercepted by the police authority. During the arrest, police officers seized two bottles of rum which later tested positive for cocaine. The two bottles have a volume of 2,980 milliliters and have an estimated street value of 9.83 million patacas.
Cheang confessed to the police officers that he had been offered 2,000 to 3,000 patacas to collect the drugs and deliver them to a designated location.
However, Cheang refused to tell the PJ about who was behind the drug smuggling.
In another case, six bottles of liquid cocaine disguised as wine were shipped from Europe, through Hong Kong, to Macau. Lau was responsible for collecting the package in Macau and in order to do so, he specifically came to Macau and underwent hotel quarantine.
Upon finishing quarantine on February 2, Lau sprinted to the shipping company’s location to collect his package. The six bottles of liquid cocaine had a total volume of 4,495 milliliters and value of 14.8 million patacas in the black market.
The PJ officers caught Lau while he was collecting the package. Like Cheang, Lau confessed to the crime and said he was offered HKD40,000 to pick up the package, but refused to reveal the identity of those who orchestrated the smuggling activity.
The PJ believes that these two cases were orchestrated by the same criminal group. The department is continuing its investigation into the source of the drugs and the whereabouts of those behind the operation.