100
布政司署
香港下亞
畢道
*** OUR REF.: (4) in CR L/M 381/77
* Your Ref.:
GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT
как ра
LOWER ALBERT ROAD
HONG KONG
5th November, 1977.
ا تھا
J. Thompson, Esq.,
Hong Kong & General Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London, SW1A 2AH.
Bear Jalus John
[
+KK
385/1
14 NOV 1977
Thank you for your letter of 18th October, 1977, forwarding a copy of a letter, with enclosures, from Mr. Newens MP, to Lord Goronwy-Roberts.
In your reply to Mr. Newens you might consider the following:
(a) Mr. Rumbelow's reply of 18th November, 1974, to
Mrs. Elliott is factually correct both then and now. Perhaps Mrs. Elliott read more into it than is justified by the actual words used.
(b) Bearing in mind the sensitive nature of counter narcotics
operations and the often lengthy and painstaking
processes involved in the acquisition of evidence, Mr. Rumbelow's letter could not have been more explicit.
(c) The Ma brothers, MA Sik-yue and MA Sik-chun, were
known to be involved in drug trafficking prior to 1974 the former is now under detention in Taiwan and the latter, with others, faces a number of criminal charges relating to the period January 1968 to December 1973. When Mr. Rumbelow wrote to Mrs. Elliott, the Ma brothers were under Narcotics Bureau investigation as long term targets and only relatively recent evidence has enabled criminal action to be initiated against these persons.
(d) The "recently arrested "Mr. Big"" mentioned by Mrs. Elliott
in her letter to Mr. Rumbelow refers to one NG Sik-ho who is still regarded as the biggest "Mr. Big" to face criminal charges in Hong Kong he was in fact sentenced to 30 years'
—
imprisonment. In police eyes, NG Sik-ho is, and was, a more dangerous individual than any of the Ma group.
(e) As to Mr. Norman Temple providing official advice on triads,
there has been some ill founded speculation on this matter, but Scotland Yard has very recently denied that this is
the case.
/As....