TNAG-0690-FCO40-839-Review-of-narcotics-problem-in-Hong-Kong-1977 — Page 138

ROYAL

POLICE

HONG

KONG

IN CONFIDENCE

Introduction

ROYAL HONG KONG POLICE

NARCOTICS BUREAU BULLETIN

1ST HALF 1976

Although opium, morphine and, to a lesser extent, heroin continue to enter Hong Kong, enforcement action has severely disrupted the activities of drug traffickers at all levels. On numerous occasions over the past six months it has heen apparent that the supply of drugs reaching the streets has been barely sufficient to meet demand and, in the case of opium, there have been lengthy periods when no transactions have taken place at wholesale level due to a complete exhaustion of stocks.

2. Prices have risen to unprecedented highs and much of the heroin reaching the addicts is of inferior quality and low purity.

3. On 23rd June, 1976, the Hong Kong Government opened twelve medical centres offering drug withdrawal treatment by way of a Methadone Detoxification Programme. Within a month of opening over 2,100 addicts had registered at the centres and this is seen as an encouraging response to what is, in Hong Kong, a new approach to the treatment of drug addiction.

Manufacture

4. Four heroin refineries were uncovered during the six month period January to June. Three of these refineries were operating within the grounds of pig/chicken farms located in the rural area of the New Territories district. The fourth had been set up in a tenement flat in the densely populated area of Kowloon.

5. Over the years a large number of skilled heroin chemists have been imprisoned or have fled Hong Kong to avoid prosecution. Persons previously engaged as apprentices to these chemists have now moved up to fill the vacuum and, lacking the expertise of their erstwhile masters, are producing a grade of heroin that is not attractive to the seasoned addict.

Import

6. On 25th May, 1976, a seizure by the Narcotics Bureau of 1482 kilogrammes of raw opium and 109.37 kilogrammes of morphine represented one of the largest amounts of narcotics ever to have been interdicted in Hong Kong (paragraphs 42 to 44 refer).

7. Seizures of morphine at Kai Tak Airport were frequent during the first three months of the year, and it was apparent that organizations had turned to this traditional courier method on a widespread scale. However, the large numbers of seizures and arrests by the Narcotics Bureau and the Preventive Service, coupled with the fact that this method of importing is not suited to bulk opium, caused emphasis to be diverted to the use of seamen couriers working aboard ocean-going liners and freighters plying the South East Asian routes. Morphine seizures at the Airport dropped significantly during May and June.

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IN CONFIDENCE