Hong Kong Customs officers made a record seizure of 87.5kg of the illicit drug ketamine worth HK$30 million (US$3.85 million) found hidden inside 175 tins of powdered milk.

The officers believe they have smashed an international drug ring, which tried to use Hong Kong as a transit hub.

In cooperation with mainland authorities and other law enforcers in the region, four men from Singapore and three from Malaysia, aged 43 to 50, were arrested in Hong Kong on Sunday and Monday in an operation code-named "Bayonet."

The high-quality ketamine was shipped from India. Part of it was intended for sale on the mainland, said the Customs and Excise Department.

The customs officers allegedly found 66 milk powder tins in the luggage of two men who arrived from India via Singapore on Sunday and Monday. The two men were arrested.

Another 109 tins were discovered in a five-star hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, where five other alleged members of the syndicate checked in during the past week, police said.

Smuggling ketamine into Hong Kong and the mainland from sources in Southeast Asia surfaced early this year following a shortage of the party drug, said Assistant Commissioner William Chow Oi-tung.

He said the seizure was a result of cooperation with law enforcement agencies in Singapore, Malaysia, India and the mainland.

Officers said supplies of the drug dried up after mainland authorities uncovered a number of underground drug laboratories in a blitz last year.

The street price of ketamine had shot up by 95 percent, to HK$350 a gram, and its purity had dropped by about 40 percent over the past 12 months, said Ben Leung Lun-cheung, chief of the drug investigation bureau.

The seven suspects, who were charged with trafficking in a dangerous drug, were remanded in custody after appearing in Tsuen Wan Court.

Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies