TNAG-0561-FCO40-656-Review-of-narcotics-problem-in-Hong-Kong-1975 — Page 130

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opium; 518 seizures of other dangerous drugs were made, and the remaining 424 involved non-dangerous drugs. A comparison of results for 1974 and the previous four years appears at Appendix III.

Prices (All expressed in Hong Kong Dollars)

13. The following were the prices of drugs on the illicit wholesale and retail markets at the end of the period under review:-

(a)

Wholesale

Opium (raw)

No. 3 Heroin

Morphine

(b) Retail

Opium (prepared)

No. 3 Heroin

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

Kilo-

Tael

Ounce

Pound

gramme

$160

$ 1,920

$ 4,224

$ 950

$15,200

$33,400

$19,000

$41,800

$550

$ 6,600

$14,520

$1,500- $2,000

$24,000

$52,800-

$32,000

$70,400

Preventive Service

14. Between July and December 1974, 362 ocean going vessels were searched and guards placed on 228 others to deter the smuggling of narcotics. During the same period a total of 94,969 pieces of incoming cargo and 9,446 postal packets were examined.

CASE SUMMARIES

Manufacture

15. On 10th August 1974 a party of officers of the Narcotics Bureau raided a flat in Tung Tau Village Road, Kowloon Walled City. Inside the premises a large quantity of apparatus used in the manufacture of acetic anhydride was seized, together with various chemicals containing 34.25 litres of a solution of acetic anhydride, acetone, and acetic acid, No arrest was made, and a search of the premises revealed a knotted rope leading from the bedroom window to the ground, offering an emergency escape route. The empty cans found at the scene suggest that a large quantity of acetic anhydride had already been produced. This was the second acetic anhydride manufacturing plant to be discovered in Hong Kong, the first was found in Yuen Long in June 1974.

(KC/WC/1095/74)

16. Following a period of surveillance, officers of the Preventive Service raided an opium preparing plant in Yan Oi Tsuen, Sha Tin, on 9th July 1974. In an unnumbered hut utensils and equipment fit for the preparing of opium were found, together with 12.561 kilogrammes of prepared opium and a small quantity of raw opium, raw opium residue, and opium water.

One man,

TSANG Kwok-wing (2582/0984/2837), was arrested and charged with Manufacturing a Dangerous Drug. He was sentenced to 34 years' imprisonment.

(PS/108/132/74)

17. On 15th September 1974, acting on information, officers of the Preventive Service raided an opium preparing plant and two opium storage centres in Kowloon Walled City. In the first premises 0.658 kilogramme of raw opium, 6.915 kilogrammes of prepared opium, and equipment used in the preparation of opium were seized. Two men, WONG Hang (7806/1630) and WONG Shou-yu (7808/1108/1172), were arrested on the premises and charged with (A) Manufacturing a Dangerous and (B) Possession of Dangerous Drugs for the Purpose of Unlawful Trafficking. WONG Hang was sentenced to 3 years' imprisonment on the (A) charge and 6 months imprisonment on the (B) charge, sentences to run consecutively. WONG Shou-yu was sentenced to 3 years' imprisonment

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