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International syndicate lures Canadians as drug mules, four arrested in Hong Kong
An international syndicate used social media to recruit four young Canadians into unknowingly trafficking nearly 100 kg of cocaine to Hong Kong, where drug prices exceed $200 per gram.
- Over the past four months, four Canadians were arrested in Hong Kong carrying nearly 100 kilograms of cocaine in checked suitcases, arriving on separate flights.
- Recruiters used social media and job posts to lure candidates, offering about $5,000 per trip, a $250 per person referral bonus, and covering flights, accommodation, food; Jade's Instagram chats show she believed the job was legitimate.
- Handlers coached recruits on small travel details and pickup steps, with Dot messaging Jade before her flight on how to retrieve a checked suitcase via encrypted messaging apps.
- Hong Kong's drug penalties are severe, and unless the four can prove unawareness, they face life sentences; Jade, then 19, was detained within three weeks with 25 kilograms of cocaine, prompting her mother Naderia to call the chats 'sickening'.
- The case sits within a broader W5 report exposing the recruitment playbook, with the documentary premiering Saturday at 7 p.m. ET, amidst Hong Kong's demand and $200 a gram cocaine price.
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