3
Report No.
COM.21.
7
Continuation No...
Narrator: A police patrol boat hunts for drug smugglers in Hong Kong harbour. It's not an easy task. At any one time there are twenty-five thousand boats in the approches to Hong Kong. The drugs disappear in the maze of boats in
the harbour. Many drugs are re-exported but Hong Kong's eighty thousand addicts consume enormous quantities themselves and the trade turns over sixteen million pounds worth of drugs
a year.
The police organised a raid on an opium den to show their efficiency in countering drug trading. There were detailed briefings, synchronised watches and a walkie-talkie system for messages. At the end of it all, four dejected old men sitting in a hut with their drugs and pipes. Critics of the police are cynical about the value of raids like this. Mrs. Elsie Elliott: Of course this is quite a joke in Hong Kong, everybody knows they're doing their best and they take action and in fact if you report a drug den, one or two arrests are made of the drug addicts and the trade goes merrily on.
Mr. Ellis:
And so the policemen come up and say "We have the best police record in the world because so many percentage
of our crimes are always run to earth:
Mrs. Elliott: I've even been given the names of the persons who organise in a certain district and the persons who hand over the money to the police for protection. But when I report these things, I get no action, no answer. Narrator: Mrs. Elsie Elliott is a veteran campaigner against the police. She's a Vice Chairman of a charitable group called
the Hong Kong Samaritans and one of the few Europeans there
in constant contact with the ordinary Chinese. Twice a week she olds a surgery to dispense help and advice. Mrs. Elliott: Oh we're short of everything. Democratically
speaking, we haven't any democracy. We have nobody in Hong
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