Hong Kong police crack down on triad activities, arresting 208 suspects and closing 6 illegal businesses
- Officers inspect 466 entertainment venues, including mahjong parlours, pubs, karaoke lounges, billiard rooms, saunas and game centres
- Police also break up prostitution syndicate that recruited travellers from mainland China and elsewhere for sex trade
More than 200 people have been arrested in the first three days of a sweeping crackdown on triad-related activities in Hong Kong.
The operation, code-named “Levington” which aimed to tackle triad gangs and cut off their income sources, started on Friday. A source on Monday said the crackdown would continue for the rest of this week.
Between Friday and Sunday, officers inspected 466 entertainment venues across the city, including mahjong parlours, pubs, karaoke lounges, billiard rooms, saunas and game centres.
“Officers raided and closed down three unlicensed pubs and three illegal gambling dens in the operation,” the force said.
Police arrested 130 men and 78 women, aged between 13 and 82, for various offences during the operation. They included six mainlander Chinese and eight expatriates.
Twenty-eight of the suspects were arrested by officers from the anti-triad squad of Wan Chai police district in a clampdown against a prostitution syndicate on Friday and Saturday.
A police spokesman on Sunday said the 11 men and 17 women included two ringleaders of the prostitution ring.
He said the triad-controlled syndicate recruited travellers from the mainland and other countries to work as sex workers, offered them accommodation, and arranged drivers to take the women to nightclubs in Wan Chai to work.
Hong Kong police arrest 315 suspects in series of raids targeting triad gangs
One of the three gambling dens police shut down operated out of a Tung Ming Street flat in Kwun Tong, where baccarat was offered.
Officers from the Kowloon East police region arrested four men and six women and seized HK$80,000 (US$10,000) in cash and HK$10,000 in betting chips along with a baccarat table from the flat at around 8pm on Sunday.
According to the force, 238 people were also fined HK$5,000 each for breaching the city’s social-distancing rules to combat the Covid-19 pandemic when they conducted searches at the 466 entertainment venues.
3 Hong Kong policemen jailed for up to 16 months for tipping off triad gang
The force urged the public to comply with restrictions to help combat the pandemic and reduce the risk of community infections.
Police said combating triad activities was one of the operational priorities of the force’s commissioner.
In the first eight months, police handled 851 cases of triad-related crimes across the city, up 5.1 per cent from 810 in the same period last year.
