TNAG-0690-FCO40-839-Review-of-narcotics-problem-in-Hong-Kong-1977 — Page 127

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PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION

for WRITTEN answer on.. 8 February 1977

HKD

The draft reply should reach the Parliamentary Office through your Under-Secretary by

Noon, Monday 7th February 1977.

Mr Frank Hooley (Sheffield, Heeley): To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what is the extent of illicit traffic and smuggling of drugs into Hong Kong; what quantities of illicit narcotics were found or confiscated in 1974, 1975 and 1976; and how many persons were prosecuted in those years for drug offences.

Mr Evan Luard

The Hong Kong Government attach a very high priority to the prevention of illicit traffic and smuggling of drugs into Hong Kong but since Hong Kong is a free port it is not practicable to carry out systematic checks on all cargoes. Precise information on the illicit trade of drugs into Hong Kong is not therefore available, though it is clear that the interception of large scale shipments of drugs in recent years has created acute, if short-lived, shortages in supplies of drugs. The quantities of drugs seized were as

follows:

Opium

1974

4,734 kilos

1975

1976

455 kilos

3,553 kilos

Morphine

mixture

323 kilos

132 kilos

291 kilos

Heroin

mixture

261 kilos

186 kilos

164 kilos

The number of persons prosecuted was as follows:-

1974

1975

18,453

13,865

1976

12,913

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