Add your blood to a bowl of alcohol, drink it all and you will be made a member of a triad society. A court was given an account of this induction ritual yesterday from an undercover police officer.
The 18-month operation, codenamed 'ironrunner', landed 17 men in the District Court on 45 charges of claiming to be or acting as members of a triad society, inviting a person to become a member of a triad society, and trafficking in dangerous drugs.
The court heard that when the police officer agreed to join the triad gang he was taken to a room on an outlying island where the admission ritual was conducted.
Before the ritual began he was given a membership number and then taught a 28-word poem about the triad society, its language and special gestures.
He was ordered to maintain the special gestures throughout the ritual no matter what happened. The first thing the officer had to do was add his blood to a bowl of alcohol, which already contained the blood of someone he had not met before. Then he had to drink it all.
The court heard that the officer only pretended to drink it.