SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 1980
PRESSURE KEPT ON DRUG TRAFFICKERS
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THE CUSTOMS AND EXCISE SERVICE HAD ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL YEAR IN 1979 IN ITS CONTINUING WAR AGAINST DRUG TRAFFICKING, SEIZING MORE THAN $61 MILLION WORTH OF DANGEROUS DRUGS.
DURING THE YEAR, OFFICERS OF THE SERVICE SEIZED ABOUT 205 KILOGRAMS OF DRUGS, INCLUDING 78.7 KILOGRAMS OF HEROIN, 10.5 KILOGRAMS OF MORPHINE AND 105.6 KILOGRAMS OF OPIUM, A QUANTITY OF ACETIC ANHYDRIDE AND DRUG-MANUFACTURING PARAPHERNALIA WERE ALSO SEIZED.
IN ADDITION, 850 PEOPLE WERE ARRESTED AND CHARGED WITH VARIOUS DRUG OFFENCES, INCLUDING 177 PROSECUTED FOR POSSESSION OF DANGEROUS DRUGS FOR ILLEGAL TRAFFICKING.
COMMENTING ON THESE ACHIEVEMENTS, A SPOKESMAN FOR THE CUSTOMS AND EXCISE SERVICE SAID THAT WITH THE SUCCESSFUL PREVENTIVE EFFORTS OF THE SERVICE AND THE POLICE, LARGE-SCALE DRUG SYNDICATES HAD DISAPPEARED FROM THE SCENE.
+WHAT WE NOW HAVE ARE MUCH SMALLER AND FRAGMENTED SYNDICATES AND THE PATTERN OF SMUGGLING INTO HONG KONG HAS ALSO CHANGED. WE NOW HAVE SMALL-QUANTITY, HIGH-FREQUENCY IMPORTS OF DRUGS CARRIED BY COURIERS AND CONCEALED ON OCEAN-GOING VESSELS OR IN AIR-CARGO AND PERSONAL BELONGINGS, HE SAID.
OF THE HAULS OF DANGEROUS DRUGS LAST YEAR, 44.6 KILOGRAMS WERE SEIZED AT THE AIRPORT, 122.1 KILOGRAMS FROM VESSELS AND 38.1 KILOGRAMS ON LAND.
HOWEVER, IN TERMS OF THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF DRUGS SEIZED, LAST YEAR SAW A DECREASE OF 13 PER CENT COMPARED WITH THE 236 KILOGRAMS SEIZED IN 1978. THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE ARRESTED AND CHARGED ALSO DROPPED BY 228 PERSONS BELOW THE 1978 FIGURE.
THE SPOKESMAN POINTED OUT THAT THIS WAS MAINLY DUE TO THE BAD HARVEST IN THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE AREA' LAST YEAR.
→THE SCARCITY OF SUPPLY, COUPLED WITH FREQUENT RAIDS BY THE ANTI-NARCOTICS FORCES, MADE PRICES OF HEROIN SOAR TO AN ALL-TIME HIGH OF SOME $50 TO $100 PER PACKET OF 0.1 GRAM AT ONE TIME BETWEEN JULY AND AUGUST, HE SAID.
+THIS TURNED THOUSANDS OF ADDICTS TO DRUG TREATMENT CLINICS,+ HE ADDED.
HE NOTED THAT THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR'S SUCCESSES WAS THE SEIZURE OF $24 MILLION WORTH OF HEROIN AND MORPHINE BLOCKS THE BIGGEST IN RECENT YEARS ON BOARD THE PANAMANIAN REGISTERED VESSEL +TAI FOOK SHAN+ ARRIVING FROM BANGKOK ON OCTOBER 20.
FIVE PEOPLE WERE ARRESTED IN CONNECTION WITH THE CASE, OF WHOM ONE WAS CHARGED UNDER THE DANGEROUS DRUGS ORDINANCE AND FOUR UNDER THE IMPORT AND EXPORT ORDINANCE.
/OTHER MAJOR