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Police crack down to cut flow of cash into prostitution, people smuggling, drugs, extortion

Triads are making $1.7 million a day out of hard-core pornography in the 'most visible and tangible evidence' of organised crime activity in the city, it has been revealed.

The $6 billion-a-year industry is 'highly lucrative' for the 14K and Wo Shing Wo triads, police say.

And it is being used to fund large-scale drug production and trafficking, people smuggling, prostitution and extortion rackets.

Based on the latest official figures, this equates to about 17,000 customers a day each paying the going rate - about $100 for six discs - for pirated hard-core films in Mongkok's black market.

Police have launched a 'zero-tolerance crackdown' in the problem areas of Sino Centre, Ho King Commercial Centre and Sim City.

More than 90 outlets have been raided on numerous occasions, with police having to weld doors shut to stop gangsters breaking into shops to reclaim seized goods.

Police have arrested 123 people and seized 1.3 million discs since the start of the year. But syndicate chiefs continue to elude capture through the use of 'ghosts' or the names of drug addicts on leases.

'Police have written to those purported landlords of the outlets concerned but to date less than 10 have come forward seeking to repossess their units,' an official statement said. 'This indicates ownership of many units is bogus.'

Police, legislators and justice department officials are pushing for laws to plug loopholes that allow triads to operate so freely.

Mongkok's assistant district commander (crime), Superintendent David Grant, said the sale of category four, or hard-core, pornography needed to be included in the Organised Crime Ordinance.

It was an offence to sell such material but sentences were usually a fine or short jail term, he said.

Police needed greater powers to track down and arrest triad bosses and seize assets.

'This is the most visible and tangible evidence of organised criminal activity on the streets of Hong Kong,' Superintendent Grant said.

'And we cannot let that amount of organised crime and that amount of money flow freely to the triads. It is a mountain of a problem but we are determined to eradicate it.'

Some shop owners and triad-affiliated unit brokers have criticised police tactics as 'beyond the law'. One wrote in an anonymous letter to the South China Morning Post: 'They bring a search warrant, take all the discs in the shop away, then lock the shop without making any arrest.

'They will then put a notice on the iron gate which asks the premises owner or an authorised person to go to the police station to get their shop back.

'Sadly, the police have further abused this power by using welders or locks.'



Triads milk $1.7m a day from porn