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information and the willingness to allocate fresh resources for
this purpose. I have got no further than this at this stage but
will do so, since hard information on the identity and time of
arrival of the Thai trawlers concerned would presumably be
invaluable to the Hong Kong preventive service even if the cargo
was loaded into junks outside Hong Kong territorial waters.
5. For the rest, there is, I think, some danger of starting new
hares with the Americans and others before the ad hoc committee
meets later this summer. The purpose of this committee is to
survey the drug trafficking problem in South East Asia and to
plan co-operative measures to deal with it. We have succeeded
in getting onto the committee as a "neutral" member. I think we
would be wise to concentrate on making sure that the committee
works on the right lines. This raises the question whether it Furul tank would be desirable and profitable for Hong Kong to send someone
te to be
of real value
to act as "technical adviser" to our member on the ad hoc committee.
This possibility was discussed exhaustively at our inter-departmental
meeting, and the conclusion was that it was not possible for us
in London to assess how much importance Hong Kong would give to
this and whether it would be likely to help or to harm the work
of the committee and our position on it. I undertook to consult
the Governor in the first instance.
6.
I attach the draft of a letter to the Governor of Hong Kong.
UN Department and SEAD concur.
Mr27
4
ACSZ
A C Stuart
Hong Kong & Indian Ocean Department
18 April 1973
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