}
0003160 G.F. 316
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accumulates during the initial reduction of raw opium into morphine base which could hamper security and lead to laboratories being detected that much easier. Furthermore morphine base is very much less bulky and less odorous than raw opium which facilitates smuggling and clandestine operations generally.
6.
Up to the present time there always appears to have been ready stocks of raw opium and morphine base available in the Bangkok area to supply the requirements of the Hong Kong market. The Thai traffickers and Hong Kong importers are known to each other, both usually maintaining offices and legitimate businesses in the Colony which provide a cover to cloak their unlawful dealings in narcotic drugs. Thus there is no difficulty for the Hong Kong importers to arrange shipments from Thailand as and when required. It is believed that the method of smuggling raw opium and morphine base from Thailand into Hong Kong currently most favoured by the traffickers is for the drugs to be sent by sea in bulk by Thai fishing trawlers from coastal villages in the Bangkok area to points in international waters some- where off Hong Kong. At these pre-arranged rendezvous at sea the drugs are trans-shipped into Hong Kong fishing junks and thence smuggled ashore where they are received and taken into storage. Having regard to the many thousands of native craft constantly sailing in Colony waters, the evasion of Marine Police and Preventive Service patrol vessels leading to successful import is not a parti- cularly difficult manoeuvre as is evidenced over the years by the paucity of seizures made from such boats in movement through Hong Kong waters. To stop and search more than a fraction of these junks and sampans is impossible. All the arrangements for the illicit importation of drugs into the Colony are undertaken by the Thai traffickers both in Thailand and in Hong Kong who remain responsible until the consignment has been landed in the Colony. Should the drugs be lost before being landed either by seizure or otherwise, the loss will be incurred by the Thai traffickers; thereafter the responsibility falls on the Hong Kong importer and any loss ensuing will be his. Payment is made in Hong Kong after the drugs have been put ashore. The negotiations and the financial arrangements involved in respect of import operations are done largely on trust by parties known to each other. It would be naive to believe that the use of trawlers is the only means of ocean transport employed by traffickers to bring drugs to Hong Kong, or that drugs never come from places other than Bangkok area. The illicit traffic will adjust to whatever is the most convenient and profitable. However, the evidence indicates strongly that trawler operations from Thailand as outlined above are responsible for the major percentage of all the narcotic drugs being imported surreptitiously into Hong Kong today. The number of trips per year is reckoned to be not less than forty.
Internal Distribution
7.
Once the raw opium and morphine base has been imported successfully and stored, the next phase is for the importer to arrange for their sale and distribution. For this purpose he will normally employ brokers who work on a commission basis. A broker
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