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|香港政府 GIS 新聞處
DAILY INFORMATION BULLETIN
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1977.
PLUGGING HONG KONG'S WATER THIEVES
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A SPECIAL TEAM OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS HAS BEEN QUIETLY WAGING WAR ON SOPHISTICATED THIEVES WHO ARE ROBBING HONG KONG TO THE TUNE OF SOME $40 MILLION A YEAR.
THEY MAY NOT BE SUPER SLEUTHS LIKE TELEVISION'S CELEBRATED KOJAK OR COLUMBO, BUT ALREADY THEIR CONSTANT PROBING AND SIMPLE DEDICATION ARE BEGINNING TO PAY DIVIDENDS.
THEY ARE INVESTIGATORS OF A SPECIAL PROSECUTING UNIT SET UP LATE LAST YEAR WITHIN THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT TO TRACK DOWN AND INDICT HONG KONG'S WATER THIEVES'.
AT FIRST, THEFT OF PUBLIC WATER WOULD HARDLY SEEM TO BE A MATTER OF GRAVE CONCERN, PARTICULARLY IN VIEW OF HONG KONG'S CURRENT HEALTHY STORAGE POSITION.
NEITHER WOULD THE RECENT ESTIMATE THAT ABOUT 10 PER CENT OF HONG KONG'S AVERAGE DAILY CONSUMPTION WAS BEING SIPHONED OFF BY ILLEGAL CONNECTIONS TO GOVERNMENT MAINS, SEEM TO GIVE RISE TO ALARM.
BUT TRANSLATED INTO MONEY TERMS, THE LOSS TO THE COMMUNITY BECOMES PAINFULLY EVIDENT, AMOUNTING TO AN ANNUAL LOSS OF SOME $40 MILLION TO THE PUBLIC PURSE ROUGHLY EQUAL TO ONE-FIFTH OF TOTAL WATER REVENUE.
+ IT IS NOT THAT THE WATER IS LOST,+ SAID THE P.W.D. ́S DIRECTOR OF WATER SUPPLIES, MR. M.D.A. TUCKER. IT IS OF COURSE USED, BUT WHAT IS LOST IS THE PUBLIC REVENUE WHICH SHOULD HAVE RESULTED FROM ITS USE, AND THIS IS A LOSS TO THE COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE.+
LAST OCTOBER, THE WATER SUPPLIES DEPARTMENT DECIDED TO PUT A STOP TO IT ALL, AND HONG KONG'S FIRST OFFICIAL WATER SQUAD' WAS FORMED WITH ASSISTANT WATERWORKS INSPECTORS MOHAMMED ALI DIN AND YAKOCE ALLADIN SPEARHEAD ING THE INVESTIGATIONS.
SINCE THEN THEY HAVE CHALKED UP AN IMPRESSIVE PROSECUTING RECORD. IN THEIR FIRST TEN WEEKS THEY UNCOVERED ENOUGH EVIDENCE TO SEND 38 CASES OF ALLEGED WATER THEFT TO COURT.
/BY THE
Issued by Government Information Services, Beaconsfield House, Hong Kong. Tel: 5-233191
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