Cocaine weighing 11kg found hidden in a wheelchair at airport
The creativity of criminals never fails to be surprising.
Metro has seen everything from cocaine in coffee beans to drugs in banana shipments – but what happened over the weekend reaches a new level.
Officials uncovered 11kg of cocaine at Hong Kong International Airport, all hidden in the cushions of an electric wheelchair.
The huge amount of Class A drugs, which is worth an estimated £1.26 million ($1.5 million) was discovered on Saturday, the BBC reported.
A man, 51, was going through customs clearance after bringing the wheelchair through as one of two pieces of checked baggage.
Staff became suspicious after examining the package, which had travelled with the man to Hong Kong from the Caribbean country of Sint Maarten via Paris.
They spotted the wheelchair’s seat cushion and backrest had been restitched.
The man, who has mobility issues and is not from Hong Kong, is said to have told officials the wheelchair had been loaned to him by a friend.
The man has been arrested and faces a life sentence in prison if found guilty of trafficking a dangerous drug.
Hong Kong customs officials said they will increase checks on visitors from ‘high-risk regions’ in response to the discovery.
It is not the first time drugs have been found hidden in a wheelchair at an airport.
New York officials found £370,000 ($450,000) worth of cocaine in the wheels of a woman’s wheelchair in November last year.
And £1.3 million ($1.6 million) was found in the upholstery of a wheelchair in Milan, Italy, in September last year.
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