Police-1966-1967 — Page 35

some 2,622 lbs. of raw opium, 127 lbs. of morphine containing 102 lbs. of pure morphine, and 142 lbs. of morphine hydrochloride containing 128 lbs. of pure morphine, were concealed within five commercial type re- frigerators specially designed and constructed for that purpose. The method of concealment used was the most sophisticated and ingenious so far encountered by the Narcotics Bureau. The second was 'The Au Tau Farm Case' in which a cache of narcotics consisting of 3,440 lbs. of raw opium, 253.95 lbs. of an admixture containing 203.16 lbs. of morphine hydrochloride, and 171.6 lbs. of an admixture containing 137.28 lbs. of morphine powder was traced to this farm at Au Tau which is in a remote area of the New Territories. This seizure was the result of painstaking investigations over a period of almost a year into the activities of an organization involved in large scale drug importation and distribution and was the second largest ever made in the Colony. The third and last large seizure was 'The Clearwater Bay Road Case' in which 3,593 lbs. of raw opium and 240 lbs. of morphine hydrochloride were found in three separate hides in the vicinity of a beach off the Clearwater Bay Road, New Territories. Total seizures by the Police and Preventive Service

were:

1964-65

1965-66 1966-67

lbs.

lbs.

lbs.

Raw Opium

5,820

4,576

11,178

Prepared Opium

106

59

70

Morphine & Morphine Hydrochloride

599

189

1,007

Heroin (D.H.)

136

24

68

Barbitone

161

121

151

106. Police have maintained their considerable effort against narcotics offenders and the effect of the continued pressure on street syndicates has resulted in their 'splintering'. Peddlers now move their selling places frequently and have smaller quantities of narcotics in their possession at any one time so that despite increased Police effort, returns in terms of actual drugs seized tend to be smaller.

107. During the year the Research Sub-Committee of the Action Committee Against Narcotics, which comprises heads of departments and welfare organizations concerned with this problem, published a report entitled 'An estimate of the number of narcotic addicts in Hong Kong'. The conclusion reached by the Research Sub-Committee was that the number of male narcotics addicts who have come to notice in Hong Kong is in the region of 30,000-65,000 and that the number of females is

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