22 arrested at karaoke drug party

Police arrested 22 people, including a 16-year-old boy and 17-year-old girl, in a raid on a drug party in a Yuen Long karaoke parlour yesterday.

The 12 males and 10 females aged 16 to 24 were arrested on suspicion of possessing and using illegal drugs. Officers said some appeared to be high on drugs at the time of the raid.

An 18-year-old youth was found to have 10 grams of white powder, believed to be cocaine, police said. Ten grams of suspected ketamine was found on a table in the room occupied by the 22 suspects. Empty plastic bags used to store drugs were also seized from the room. The drugs had a street value of about HK$6,000.

The arrests were made at 12.30am when anti-triad officers from New Territories North raided one of the karaoke rooms on the second floor of Lok Sing Building in Kau Yuk Road.

Most of the males arrested were suspected to be members of the 14K triad society, police said.

'Initial investigation showed that the drug party was organised by one of the triad members, who invited his friends to join,' a police officer said.

The officer believed recent frequent police raids on entertainment venues across the city to combat juvenile drug use might have led drug users to hide and hold drug parties in such private rooms.

Police are investigating whether it was the first time such a party had been held at the site and how the suspects obtained the drugs.

The officer said the 22 arrested - most are unemployed and none are students - were likely to be released on bail pending further investigation. No one had been charged last night.

In a separate case, a 23-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of snorting an illegal drug at her home in Sha Tin after her mother alerted police yesterday.

The 54-year-old mother suspected her daughter had inhaled a dangerous drug because she noticed white powder in her daughter's nostrils. She called police at about 12.45am.

Officers seized a small quantity of powder at the flat in Jubilee Garden in Tan Kwai Tsuen.

The daughter was taken conscious to Prince of Wales Hospital for examination. No charge had been laid last night. Officers from Sha Tin police station are investigating.

According to police figures, the amount of cocaine seized rose more than 90 per cent to 121kg last year from 64kg in 2008, and seizures of the drug Ice rose by about 82 per cent, from 24kg in 2008 to 44kg last year.