A haul of herbal cannabis with a street value of about 680,000 HK dollars (US$87,179) was seized by Hong Kong Customs officers from an arriving South African woman at Hong Kong International Airport Thursday.

At about 8:30 AM local time, Customs officers intercepted a 30-year-old woman who had arrived in Hong Kong from Johannesburg, South Africa. From her luggage, they seized 20 slabs of herbal cannabis, weighing a total of 20 kg, according to a press release from the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The woman will be charged with one count of "trafficking in a dangerous drug" and will appear in Tsuen Wan Magistrates' Courts of Hong Kong Friday.

Under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance of Hong Kong, drug trafficking is a serious offense. The maximum penalty is life imprisonment and a fine of five million HK dollars (US$641,025).

(Xinhua News Agency March 2, 2007)