The haul came after a team of customs officers at Hong Kong International Airport spent more than four hours opening 160 boxes and checking nearly 2,000 dragon fruits – also known as pitayas – one by one on Tuesday, two days after the air freight arrived from Colombia via Britain.
Describing the concealment method as “sophisticated” and “innovative”, a source said: “Part of the fruit layer was peeled off and pulp was removed before liquid cocaine was injected into the hollow centre and the layer glued back on.
“From appearance, it was hard to distinguish the ones concealing illegal drugs. Officers had to inspect them one by one.”
He said the 98 dragon fruits containing the drug were spread out over 50 boxes among other fruits that had not been tampered with.
“Each dragon fruit carried about 130 grams of liquid cocaine. A total of 15kg of liquid cocaine was seized inside the 98 fruits. The haul has an estimated street value of HK$15.7 million,” the source said.
One of the reasons the consignment was chosen for inspection was because fresh fruit coming from overseas by air would usually be picked up on the day of arrival at the airport.
