Fish maws, a sling-bag cat, and gym supplements that weren't

The afternoon shift delivered four cases — one involving a fish worth more per kilogram than most luxury cars, one proving that a shoulder bag is no disguise at all, one that took 73 days to reach the public, and one that broke a city's all-time drug record.

Someone shipped eight cartons of frozen fish fillets from Mexico through Hong Kong to Vietnam. At least, that's what the air waybill said. When Hong Kong Customs officers X-rayed the cargo at Hong Kong International Airport on June 10, they found 149 kg of totoaba swim bladders buried among genuine frozen fish. 1

The totoaba (Totoaba macdonaldi) is a critically endangered fish found only in Mexico's Gulf of California. Its swim bladder — called a fish maw — fetches between US$20,000 and US$80,000 per kilogram on the black market, mostly driven by demand in Chinese traditional medicine and luxury cuisine. At that price, the 149 kg haul carried an estimated market value of around HK$23.8 million (about US$3.05 million). 2

The tactic — mixing high-value contraband with legitimate product of the same category — is designed specifically to defeat X-ray by reducing contrast anomalies. This is the first totoaba case HK Customs has detected in 2026. Investigation is ongoing; no arrests have been announced.

Under Hong Kong's Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance (Cap. 586), the maximum penalty for smuggling scheduled species is a HK$10 million fine and 10 years' imprisonment. 1

The same day, at the Lo Wu Control Point arrival hall, a 60-year-old man walked in from mainland China carrying a sling bag. Customs officers searched the bag and found a live cat worth an estimated HK$15,000. The man was arrested and the case handed to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) for follow-up investigation. 3

There's a pattern here. This is the sixth recorded case of someone attempting to smuggle a live animal across a Hong Kong land-border control point in a bag or backpack over the past few weeks. The five preceding cases: a 66-year-old woman with a cat (May 21), a 66-year-old man with a cat (June 1), a 38-year-old man with two dogs (May 28), a 33-year-old man with 150 live birds (June 1), and a 50-year-old woman with two hamsters (June 2). Importing animals into Hong Kong without a valid permit is an offence under the Rabies Regulation — maximum penalty HK$50,000 and one year in prison. 3

On June 8, a 25-year-old Hong Kong man named Chau arrived at Macau International Airport from a Southeast Asian country with two checked suitcases containing 60 packets of cannabis — 34.9 kg in total, with a street value of MOP35 million (about US$4.3 million). A joint team from the Judiciary Police (PJ, Polícia Judiciária) narcotics division, Macau Customs Service, and Public Security Police made the arrest. 4

PJ spokesman Chao Teng Hin said it was "the largest cannabis smuggling case ever recorded in Macau's history." 5 Chau told police he had been promised HK$60,000 (about US$7,700) as a courier fee and admitted knowing the suitcases contained drugs. He faces 5 to 15 years on drug trafficking charges.

On March 30, a Hong Kong woman identified as WNK flew Paris → Dubai → Jakarta carrying a silver suitcase. Indonesian customs and narcotics officers at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport Terminal 3 searched it and found 10.8 kg of ketamine — not as a loose powder, but packed inside 199 packets labeled "Fit Lane Basics dietary supplements." 6

Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic used medically and illicitly as a club drug. Soekarno-Hatta Airport Police Chief Senior Commissioner Wisnu Wardana said the modus operandi was "to disguise the drugs inside passenger baggage arriving from overseas." 7 WNK was charged under Indonesia's Health Law No. 17/2023 (Articles 435 and 436(2)), facing up to 12 years' imprisonment and a Rp5 billion fine. A co-conspirator identified only as "S," also a Hong Kong national and described as the operation's coordinator, is a fugitive. The street value was estimated at Rp10.9 billion (~US$670,000). 6

The announcement came on June 11 — 73 days after the seizure. Neither ANTARA nor RRI offered an explanation for the gap; the ongoing search for fugitive "S" is the most plausible reason authorities held the disclosure.