ENG-1976 — Page 169

PUBLIC ORDER

Homicide Squad

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The Homicide Squad investigates homicide cases of a protracted and complicated nature. Significant cases handled during the year included the murder of a young girl whose body was found in a box in Happy Valley, and the Cactus Apartment murder and the subsequent Commission of Inquiry.

Commercial Crime Office

The Commercial Crime Office continued its investigations into large-scale com- pany frauds which came to light following the 1972-3 stock market boom.

The 18-month-long inquiry into the Paul Lee Engineering Company was com- pleted during the year and resulted in 10 former directors and executives of the company being charged with various-offences under the Companies Ordinance and the Theft Ordinance. Three of the Paul Lee directors, including the managing director, were subsequently convicted.

The Commercial Crime Office also conducted investigations involving four other public companies. A discernible trend in more sophisticated and international commercial frauds was noted, making close liaison with organisations such as In- terpol vital. Investigations took officers to several countries, including Iran, Indonesia, Korea, Singapore, the United States and Britain.

Narcotics Bureau

The advantage gained by police following the elimination of major drug syndi- cates in 1974 and 1975 was further exploited during the year. There were substantial drug seizures and the Narcotics Bureau arrested 103 people engaged at the higher levels of the drug importing, manufacturing and distributing chains. The bureau's activities plus concerted police action at street level combined to create an atmosphere of unrest and distrust among traffickers.

Police neutralised eight heroin refineries and seized 3 186 kilos of raw opium, 137 kilos of morphine, 20 kilos of heroin, four kilos of cannabis and three kilos of barbitone. In one case, police intercepted a junk that was attempting to transfer 1 482 kilos of raw opium and 110 kilos of morphine from an ocean-going fishing boat to a landing point on the Kowloon shoreline.

Drug traffickers are constantly changing their methods of operation and tighten- ing security in an effort to avoid detection. These developments are being closely monitored to ensure that the police maintain their advantage.

Identification Bureau

The Identification Bureau increased its capability during the year with the setting up of an additional scenes-of-crime team based at Kwai Chung police station. The team attends crime scenes between Sham Shui Po and Yuen Long.

Identifications made by the scenes-of-crime section from fingerprints found at crime scenes increased steadily, although the 9,028 crime scenes attended were