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Thursday, January 3, 1974
1973 A BUSY YEAR FOR PREVENTIVE SERVICE
Nearly $6 million worth of dangerous drugs were seized by
officers of the Preventive Service in 1973 and more than 3,800 people
were arrested in connection with narcotics offences.
The quantity of drugs seized and confiscated during the year
totalled 584.6 kilograms of raw and prepared opium, heroin, cannabis,
and barbitone, and 215 litres of opium solution.
Of the 3,857 people arrested, 3,671 were connected with smoking
or trafficking in narcotics.
One of the more noteworthy seizures occurred on January 16 when
Preventive Officers smashed a highly organised drugs storage and distribution
centre inside the Walled City.
On that occasion, the officers were forced to fire at a mob which
attempted to retrieve the large quantities of opium and heroin seized and
to rescue two female traffickers.
The two women were subsequently sentenced to 18 and 12 months'
imprisonment and fined $20,000 each, or 12 months' jail,
Two days later, on January 18, officers surrounded the Luen Shan
Farm at Yuen Long and after a search located one of the largest heroin
manufacturies ever discovered. A large quantity of No. 4 heroin undergoing
the various refining processes, barbitone and manufacturing equipment were
Beized.
The manufacturer was arrested at the scene and subsequently sentenced
in the Supreme Court to 10 years in prison.
/In actions