If last week's Next magazine cover story is to be taken seriously, every time you step on to a crowded MTR train or queue for movie tickets, you might well be standing beside a triad member.
Citing a confidential police report, the popular weekly suggests that the four major triad gangs in town - Sun Yee On, Wo Shing Wo, 14K and Wo Hop Wo - have each boosted membership to more than 30,000.
The tally, it asserts, excludes those on the fringes who have not undergone the initiation rites. This means that about three of every 100 residents aged over 15 are sworn members of the underworld.
Sun Yee On, which reportedly has computerised its membership records, is billed as the most organised and influential. Its chapters are said to have dominated areas such as Tsim Sha Tsui, Lan Kwai Fong and Tuen Mun. Eighty per cent of the entertainment establishments in Tsim Sha Tsui are said to be under the protection of the gang.
More disturbingly, the publication also accuses the Chinese security authorities of having entered into business ventures with the triads in return for their promises to refrain from causing trouble during the transition.
Next claims that Chinese law enforcers have struck a deal with the Sun Yee On gang. The public security forces are said to have assured the group that they would not seek to wipe out their leadership, should the gang promise to restrain its illegal activities.