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SECRET
Ref: (38) in NS 62/76/98S
Dear D212 Commodore Evans,
- MAY 1974
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(26)
Colonial Secretariat,
Hong Kong.
02469
22nd April 1974
Thank you for receiving me this morning when we held a useful and profitable discussion about the illicit drug trade in Hong Kong relevant to the recent correspondence which has been passing between the F.C.0., M.O.D. and here on the subject. I hope I was able to fill in some background which may have been unknown to you, putting the question of possible involvement by the Royal Navy into its proper perspective.
To cut a long story short, an examination in London and Hong Kong of the question of the Royal Navy taking action against Thai fishing trawlers on the high seas suspected of transporting contraband opium cargoes to the Colony from the Gulf of Thailand is a non-starter for a variety of well-known reasons. I do not intend that the matter shall be pursued further and have so informed the F.c.o.
To the best of our knowledge, the regular smuggling service operated by Thai fishing trawlers stopped about the middle of last year. Whether it will start again I cannot tell, but it could well do so if the traffickers in Thailand can make 'arrangements' which they regard as reasonably secure. There have been rumblings about a resumption from time to time, but in the event nothing appears to have come of them so far.
However, it would be of great assistance to the law enforcement agencies here if naval vessels at sea could report any Thai fishing trawlers sighted giving the appearance of heading towards Hong Kong. This would alert the Police and Preventive Service locally and increase the chances of success- ful interceptions of their contraband cargoes within Colony waters. You indicated that there should be no difficulty in this being done. I have asked the Chief Superintendent in charge of the Police Narcotics Bureau, Mr. H.J. Rumbelow, to prepare copies of photographs of the type of trawler used together with charts showing the routes they normally take from the Gulf of Thailand to international waters south of Hong Kong where cargoes are trans-shipped into local fishing craft. I will let you have these when they are ready.
SECRET
THE COMMODORE-IN-CHARGE! 571/30 23 APR 1974
HONG KONG
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