THE YOUTH WALKS warily along the dim alleyways of Shek Lei Pui public housing estate, staring suspiciously at passers-by. He's dressed in uniform: black shirt, black trousers, black shoes. Holding his hands behind his back, he tries to appear confident and casual, but his eyes betray him. As his gaze darts from a schoolboy weighed down by a heavy backpack to a teenager on a bicycle, he says: 'I'm used to this. I have to keep an eye out for my enemies.'
As he strolls past a food store, the glow of the lights fleetingly reveal his baby face. But Kenny is no innocent. At 18, he is already a veteran of Hong Kong's murky underworld. He says he is no longer a member of the notorious Sun Yee On or 14K triads, which he joined when he was 13, but the life he left behind still haunts him. And the irony of a story about a boy who dreamt of joining the police force ending up on the other side of the law is not lost on him.
'It's funny, when I was very young all I ever wanted to be was a policeman. They look cool. But things change.'
After he and his friends were beaten up by a gang, he sought the protection and status of triad membership. Kenny, who even now could pass for a 14-year-old, was by no means the youngest to enter the triad fold in 1995. Children as young as 10 are falling prey to recruiters in a frightening trend that is worrying police and youth groups.
'The majority of current triads are very young and are recruited from schools,' said Peter Ip Pau-fuk, a former criminal intelligence bureau chief inspector and a triad expert who gives talks to police forces around the world.
And once they are in, there's a good chance they will be in for life. If youngsters are in a gang for more than three years, they are likely to become 'hardcore members', says Ip.
In the first six months of this year, police arrested 343 people for triad-related offences - 132 of them were aged between seven and 15. A survey last year by the Boys' and Girls' Clubs Association found similar evidence. Of 291 members aged 12 to 18, 205 of them said they were triad members. Social workers say they are used for fighting and negotiating with rival gangs. They also run errands, act as lookouts and are involved in petty extortion at school.