ENG-1994 — Page 347

PUBLIC ORDER

Car Theft

The theft of luxury vehicles for smuggling to China continued to decline. Vigorous enforcement action by both the Hong Kong and Chinese authorities effectively kept the incidence of theft at a comparatively low level. Improved car security by manufacturers, owners and carpark operators also contributed to the overall decline.

A number of pleasure craft reported stolen in Hong Kong in 1993 were located in China and returned with the assistance of the Chinese authorities. No report of this type of theft was received in 1994.

Organised Crime and Triads

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Priority continued to be given to action against triads. During the year, the police conducted a large number of anti-triad operations of varying scales which seriously disrupted triad activities in areas such as the construction industry, film and entertainment industry, decoration services and public light bus operations. These operations resulted in the successful prosecution of many active triad office-bearers and members.

The Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance, designed to tackle organised crime and triad activities more effectively, was enacted in October. The enhanced investigative powers provided in the ordinance allow the police to require persons possessing information relevant to the investigation of an organised crime to answer questions or produce this information. This will help address one of the major difficulties in tackling organised and serious crimes the reluctance of people to come forward. The ordinance also enables the prosecution to provide information to the court after a person is convicted of a specified offence under the ordinance, so that the judge can take that information into account when sentencing and could, within the statutory maximum penalty, impose a heavier sentence than would otherwise be the case. The ordinance also provides for confiscation of the proceeds of serious crime and makes the money-laundering of proceeds of serious crime a criminal offence.

Commercial Crime

The Commercial Crime Bureau maintained its emphasis on the investigation of fraud within the financial and trading sectors. Two major publicly-listed companies were under investigation as a result of the findings of inspections commissioned by the Financial Secretary.

The activities of unscrupulous foreign exchange companies remained a matter of concern as more complaints were received during the year. The commencement of the Leveraged Foreign Exchange Trading Ordinance on September 1, 1994, enforced by the Securities and Futures Commission, represented a major step forward in ensuring that foreign exchange traders are properly regulated.

The newly-established Computer Crime Section recorded a number of successful in- vestigations. This included action against the illegal cloning of mobile telephones. In one case, 16 people were prosecuted for unlawful access to a hotel's computer system.

The Counterfeit and Forgery Division enjoyed another fruitful year in the fight against the production of counterfeit currency, and the use of counterfeit credit cards. In one major operation, a counterfeit currency syndicate, with a printing workshop engaged in the production of counterfeit US$100 banknotes, was neutralised. Losses incurred through the

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