A British man has appeared in court accused of attempting to smuggle £1.5million worth of ketamine into Hong Kong.
Paul Squire, 50, from Askern, Doncaster, was arrested in June at Hong Kong International Airport alongside a Japanese man after they allegedly tried to sneak 42kg of the drug into the region.
Customs officers are said to have found 26kg of ketamine inside his two checked-in suitcases after he landed on a direct flight from Heathrow on June 18.
The other man, also 50, arrived in Hong Kong from Amsterdam a day earlier and was found with 16kg of ketamine after a routine security check. He also smuggled in 137 sticks of illegal cigarettes hidden in his carry-on luggage.
Squire was pictured outside the airport with a balaclava covering his face as he was gripped by two officials after the drugs were found.
He was charged with one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug and appeared at West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts on Monday.
Relatives at his terraced home in Askern said the family were deeply concerned about him.
His nephew said: 'He just got himself on a bad road at the time. Everything has gone bad.
Paul Squire, 50, from Askern, Doncaster, was arrested in June at Hong Kong International Airport alongside a Japanese man accused of trying to sneak 42kg of the drug into the region
Squire was pictured outside the airport with a balaclava covering his face as he was gripped by two officials after the drugs were found
Customs officers say they found 26kg of ketamine inside his two checked-in suitcases after he landed on a direct flight from Heathrow on June 18
'He's just got himself mixed up in a bad situation but everyone who knows him would stick up for him.
'We've seen he's in Hong Kong obviously. Put yourself in our predicament. It's not nice for the family.
'Of course we're worried about him. He's my uncle.
'My dad Darron is the only one who's had any contact with him, but he's working away at the minute.'
A friend described the 50-year-old as a ‘good honest hard working lad’ and said he was ‘the last person anybody would think would be involved in something like this.’
A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said: ‘We are supporting a British man who has been arrested in Hong Kong, and are in contact with the local authorities and his family.’
Hong Kong has some of the world’s strictest drug trafficking penalties with those found guilty facing fines of up to £500,000 and life imprisonment.
Last week a 36-year-old British woman was arrested in Hong Kong after officers found 30kg of ketamine, worth £1.1m, in her luggage. She had flown from London via Abu Dhabi.
Two days earlier a British man, 34, was found with 16kg of ketamine inside his check-in baggage.