TNAG-0562-FCO40-657-Review-of-narcotics-problem-in-Hong-Kong-1975 — Page 8

ROYAL

MONG

KONG

POLICE

IN

CONFIDENCE

Introduction

ROYAL HONG KONG POLICE

NARCOTICS BUREAU BULLETIN

1ST HALF 1975

The period under review saw a continued shortage of drugs on the local illicit market. The Thai trawler method of importing large consignments of drugs into Hong Kong appears for the time being at least to have been abandoned by local traffickers. This is the reason for the very noticeable drop in the quantity of raw opium seized in the first half of 1975, there was however a significant

increase in seizures of No. 3 heroin.

2. The majority of opiate drugs entering Hong Kong are being brought in on cargo boats, by seamen couriers and by airline passengers in relatively small amounts. It is not clear how much morphine is entering Hong Kong and although heroin is not too difficult to obtain, some heroin chemists have been forced to suspend operations because of a shortage of morphine.

3. The traffickers who are now filling the gaps left by the decimation of the established drug syndicates in the latter half of 1974 are considerably more security conscious than their predecessors and as a matter of routine they engage in complex counter-surveillance techniques to avoid detection.

4. In May 1975 a Narcotics Bureau Superintendent of Police was seconded to Interpol S.G. as a Far East Liaison Officer. The attachment is already proving to be of real value both to Hong Kong and to Interpol.

5.

Hong Kong's Commissioner for Narcotics, the Head of Hong Kong's Narcotics Bureau and the Councillor for Hong Kong Affairs in Bangkok attended the Tripartite Meeting on cooperation against trafficking into and through Hong Kong, in London during the period under review. The meeting was assembled to discuss a wide variety of enforcement problems and Hong Kong's role in the International drug trafficking context.

6. A quantity of arms and ammunition used to hi-jack drug consignments in 1973 were seized by Narcotics Bureau officers. This case is reported at paras 53 & 54.

Manufacture

7. Three heroin refineries were neutralised during the 1st half of 1975, one of which was capable of very large scale production as was indicated by the seizure of over 40 kilogrammes of No. 3 heroin undergoing the drying stage when Narcotics Bureau officers burst into the premises. (Para- graphs 24-26 refer)

8.

There are indications that one manufacturing organisation had set up a number of premises as small scale heroin refineries, and only at the last minute would they decide on which one to use. Ingredients were rushed to the scene, one batch of heroin was produced, the equipment cleaned and

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IN CONFIDENCE