Hong Kong battling ‘space oil’ drug trend, police log 90 cases in first 10 months

Hong Kong is battling a sharp rise in drug cases involving a newly emerging narcotic known as “space oil”, with police handling 90 reports in the first 10 months of the year compared with only eight in all of 2023.

The force provided the latest data on Tuesday and said officers had arrested 99 people in an operation targeting the sale of various illegal drugs online, with the youngest aged just 12.

Officers were also cracking down on the sale of etomidate, a component of space oil, on the internet based on recent trends and the increased consumption of the drug, which the government plans to ban early next year.

Space oil is commonly packaged as e-cigarette capsules and contains the anaesthetic etomidate, which requires a doctor’s prescription. Etomidate is currently classified as a Part 1 poison.

Senior Superintendent Chan Kong-ming of the narcotics bureau said the number of cases involving etomidate had increased significantly compared with last year.

The force recorded only eight cases involving the substance and arrested nine people in 2023. But police reported 90 cases between January and October this year, with 132 people arrested.