Hong Kong police storm traditional triad initiation ceremony
Officer said he had not seen a ceremony of its kind in more than a decade of law enforcement
When police officers stormed a wooden hut in Sham Shui Po on Tuesday morning, they were greeted with a scene that had not been witnessed by Hong Kong law enforcers in more than a decade – a traditional triad initiation ceremony.
A makeshift altar had been set up at the site of the antiquated ritual, flanked by joss sticks, wine, red and yellow papers and a meat clever.
Police believed the case involved a triad that was targeting asylum seekers from South Asia in the area for recruitment.
Officers from Sham Shui Po police district raided the illegally built wooden hut under a bridge on Tung Chau Street at about 9am, upon intelligence that there might be an illegal assembly there.
Superintendent Li Kwai-wah from the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau said a recruitment ceremony was in progress when officers entered the house, which was the usual haunt of homeless people in the area.