Hong Kong police and customs authorities launched a series of operations recently against gang crimes ahead of the National Day Holidays, or the Golden Week, from Oct. 1 to 7.

In a six-hour joint operation with the Immigration Department, police raided several abandoned huts and containers in the rural areas of Yuen Long in New Territories early in the morning on Sept.16. Over 100 two-way permit holders were arrested for breaching their conditions of stay.

In another shock action last Friday, police officers raided 12 premises in the two districts where initial investigations revealed a series of vice operations. Forty-seven women and seven men, most of them being triad affiliate, were arrested. Among them, three men and nine women were suspected to be keepers of the vice establishments.

In the evening of the same day, the Police, the Customs and Excise Department and the Television & Entertainment Licensing Authority, conducted another operation around a number of commercial and shopping centers in Kowloon area.

In the operation, 49 men aged between 16 and 62 were arrested for publishing obscene articles. Over 310,000 obscene and pirated VCDs and DVDs worth about 11 million Hong Kong dollars (1.4 million US dollars) were seized.

Last Friday, Hong Kong Customs officers also arrested five incoming passengers after a two-day operation with Guangdong Customs at Lo Wu, Lok Ma Chau, Man Kam To and Sha Tau Kok checkpoints. The joint operation aimed at cracking down on the smuggling of pirated optical discs by cross-boundary couriers.

Also on Sept. 19, the police arrested a 42-year-old man suspected of being a member of a cross-boundary drug trafficking syndicate. Intercepted by the police at Hong Kong International Airport, the man was found carrying a total of 12 packets of No. 4 heroin weighting about 2.3 kilograms tied to his chest, back, and legs with adhesive tapes.

Days ago, Secretary for Security Lee Siu-Kwong went to Beijing and then to Guangzhou for his first duty visit to the Mainland since taking up his post in early August. Cross-border crimes featured Lee's discussions with his counterparts.

Lee told reporters that both sides agreed that actions must be taken to beat the crimes in wake of the regulations issued recently to encouraging Hong Kong/Mainland traveling.

"Law enforcement agencies in Hong Kong and the Mainland will enhance cooperation to fight against all kinds of border-crossing crimes that may endanger the public and the communication between Hong Kong and the Mainland," Lee said.

The Hong Kong side has been taking measures to prepare for the upcoming Golden Week holidays, he noted. Operations against crimes will be reinforced and those who try to take advantage of holidays for trafficking, stealing or other crimes will be punished severely.

(Xinhua News Agency September 23, 2003)