Hong Kong police arrest 86 in sweeping 15-day crackdown on triad activities
Force seizes HK$280,000 of etomidate, arrests suspects for litany of crimes including drug trafficking, illegal gambling and money laundering
Hong Kong police have arrested 86 people, including triad members, in a sweeping 15-day crackdown on organised crime, ranging from theft and drug trafficking to illegal gambling and money laundering.
The force said on Tuesday that the operation, mounted between August 18 and September 1, had led to the arrest of 66 men and 20 women, aged between 17 and 65, for allegedly operating or taking part in illegal gambling establishments and breaching their conditions of stay.
The long list of charges also includes trafficking in and possession of dangerous drugs, operating premises for drug taking, possession of offensive weapons and apparatus intended for dangerous drug use, criminal damage, wounding, theft, obtaining property by deception and handling stolen goods.
“Some of those arrested have a triad background,” said Senior Inspector Ng Ka-lun of the Hong Kong Island regional anti-triad unit, who added that the force had raided four vice establishments and two gambling dens.
He highlighted that police had also uncovered white-collar crimes allegedly committed by triad members, including various fraud offences such as utilising stooge accounts to launder illicit funds.
“We also noted their involvement in a recent fraud case in Central, in which triad members established a cryptocurrency exchange and swindled substantial sums of money from their ‘clients’,” Ng said.