Man arrested in connection to drug smuggling investigation at Hong Kong airport

Four Canadians on separate flights end up behind bars in Hong Kong on drug smuggling charges | W5

A Markham, Ont. man has been charged in connection to an ongoing drug investigation involving a Cambridge, Ont. woman accused of trafficking cocaine into Hong Kong.

Officers with the Waterloo Regional Police Service arrested the 36-year-old on Thursday while executing a search warrant in Markham.

He is charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking and possession for the purpose of exportation.

A 20-year-old woman from Cambridge was arrested at the Hong Kong International Airport in September 2025 with 25 kilograms of suspected cocaine hidden in her checked luggage.

Police said the man’s arrest was related to a “sophisticated drug network that facilitated her travel from Toronto to Hong Kong.”

They did not elaborate on the drug smuggling scheme.

W5 investigation

W5, the investigative reporting unit at CTV News, recently uncovered an international criminal network recruiting Canadians, including teenagers, to transport large quantities of cocaine into Hong Kong

Over a four-month period, four Canadians were arrested on arrival at the Hong Kong International Airport. Each one travelled there on a separate flight and claimed not to know one another. Officials said they found almost 100 kilograms of cocaine hidden in their suitcases.

One of them was a Cambridge woman named Jade who was, at that time, 19 years old. She was detained in September after customs agents found 25 kilograms of cocaine in her checked suitcase.

Jade and a man named Omar were the youngest of the group and both lived in southwestern Ontario. The other two were older and hailed from the Greater Toronto Area.

W5 spoke to the alleged drug mules in short, 15‑minute prison visits, and noticed similarities in their accounts. All four used the same name for the network’s boss, a person who went by the name “Dot” and used the period symbol as his signature.

Victims and sources said the so‑called “Dot network” was actively recruiting young people in the Kitchener‑Waterloo area, despite the arrests of Jade, Omar and the two other accused.

There is huge demand for cocaine in Hong Kong, where it is the drug of choice for the wealthy. It sells for about $200 a gram – more than double what Canadians typically pay.

Hong Kong’s drug penalties are also severe. Unless the four Canadians can prove they didn’t know about the contraband, they could be sentenced to life behind bars.

With files from CTV’s W5 and Avery Haines.