52
HKK 385/2 385/2
HOME OFFICE
Queen Anne's Gate, LONDON, SW1H 9AT
RECEIVED IN RESY NO. 51
5 OCT 1978
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PA
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ction Ten
R J T McLaren usq
Hong Kong and General Department Foreign & Commonwealth Office King Charles Street
London SW1A 2AH
Dear Vicharen,
DRUG TRAFFICKING IN HONG KONG
Direct line: 01-213 4022 Switchboard: 01-213 3000
See 53
A. to HK + Have Afé
N Thompson
(us for
27 September 1978
ven?
-this is of course the Ma case as I am aware we have seen nothing apart from the newspaper reports of the Mas bail jumping): is there any comments
either on the generat we should make either on the issue (in the absence of an extraction treats- whine assume is out of the question-is there anything the Tanomise can do any way to stop Taiven beis used as I had lunch yesterday with Peter Lee, the Narcotics Commissioner in Hong Kong, and it appears that he intends to raise at the forthcoming Interpol assembly meeting (19 26 October 1978 at Panama) the question of Taiwan (who apparently continue to be members of Interpol) providing a safe haven for some of Hong Kong's most wanted traffickers. Apparently the enforcement authorities in Hong Kong have recently succeeded in tracking down and bringing to justice a man who is alleged to be in control of the biggest trafficking organisation ever discovered there (the value, I am told, of the goods with which he and his underlings are concerned goes into the equivalent of tens of millions of pounds sterling). Unfortunately, despite police opposition, he and a number of his associates were allowed bail by a (British) magistrate and have just disappeared, a few days before the trial is due to open. This has created a great deal of public anxiety and anger against the authorities, but the Government's law officers say that there is nothing that can be done. On what seemed to me like an emotive wave it therefore seems to be the intention to take it out on the Taiwanese, Taiwan being recognised as the place where all the Hong Kong people who manage to escape the enforcement net go,
at least in the first instance.
Peter Lee said that he thought we ought to be warned about this in case there were any possible diplomatic repercussions. I pointed out that the incident would not be without some possibility of embarrassment for Hong Kong since, after all, it was they who had let the man go. I am sending a copy of this letter to Ian Jones in our Police Department, who will be attending the Interpol meeting along with senior officers of Scotland Yard. Perhaps you could let him have any comments direct. I should be glad of a copy and it is just possible that I may see Peter Lee again the week after next (which will be his last week in the United Kingdom).
بشه
Your mis
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B O Bubbear
te
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