TNAG-0562-FCO40-657-Review-of-narcotics-problem-in-Hong-Kong-1975 — Page 10

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Prices (All expressed in Hong Kong Dollars)

17. 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

No. 3 Heroin

Opium (prepared)

:

:

Tael

Ounce

Pound

Kilo-

gramme

$150

$ 1,800

$ 3,960

$ 560

$ 8,960

$19,712

$ 8,200

$18,040

$438

$ 5,256

$11,563

$1,344

$21,504

$47,308

Preventive Service

18. During the period under review 390 ocean going vessels were searched and guards placed on 226 others to deter the smuggling of narcotics. 108,748 pieces of incoming cargo and 215,070 postal packets were examined.

CASE SUMMARIES

Manufacture

19. On 20th April 1975, following a period of surveillance, officers of the Narcotics Bureau carried out series of simultaneous raids on residential flats in Kowloon. A raid on a flat in Lo Yan Street, Kowloon Walled City, resulted in the initial discovery of a large quantity of heroin scattered on the bedroom floor and a quantity of chemicals and equipment normally associated with the manu- facture of heroin. A Chinese male LEE Kee (2621/1015) and his wife CHAN Mui-kam (7115/2734/ 6855) were found in the premises and arrested.

20. The flat was searched for several hours and two secret compartments were discovered behind the tiled bedroom wall. In one of the compartments a large quantity of No. 3 heroin was discovered, together with small amounts of chemicals associated with the manufacture of heroin. The second compartment contained ten "999" brand morphine blocks. Following this discovery a search outside the bedroom window revealed a further large quantity of No. 3 heroin contained in a plastic bag lodged on the water pipes.

21. A raid on a second flat, in Kai Tak Road, Kowloon, also belonging to LEE Kee, resulted in the discovery of more chemicals and equipment associated with the manufacture of heroin, together with a quantity of packaging materials.

22. On 24th April 1975, officers of the Narcotics Bureau returned to the Lo Yan Street, flat accompanied by Public Works Department Structural Engineer and carried out an extensive search of the area behind the bedroom wall. A further quantity of No. 3 heroin, two jerrycans containing a total of 16.85 litres of acetic anhydride, and a large quantity of packing materials were discovered. 23. The total seizure of drugs from the flat comprised 10.3673 kilogrammes of a mixture con- taining 3.8457 kilogrammes of salts of esters of morphine, 13.9011 kilogrammes of a mixture containing 12.5242 kilogrammes of a salt of morphine, and 2.8869 kilogrammes of barbitone. LEE and CHAN have been charged with Manufacturing a Dangerous Drug and Possession of Dangerous Drugs For The Purpose of Unlawful Trafficking. The case has been committed to the Supreme Court.

(KC/WC/679/75)

24. During the evening of 24th April 1975, following a period of surveillance, officers of the Narcotics Bureau raided an unnumbered stone house near Tseng Lan Shue Village, Clearwater Bay Road, Sai Kung. On entering the premises the officers found five Chinese males actually in the

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