Hong Kong’s new customs chief to focus on national security threats
- Louise Ho says her department will seize books, magazines and other items that could pose a risk to national security
- After 30 years in the job, Ho becomes first woman to rise through ranks to head one of city’s disciplined services
Hong Kong customs will make seizing materials that could threaten national security a priority, the first woman to head the department has said, calling her 8,000 officers the city’s first line of defence.
Taking up the role on Thursday, Louise Ho Pui-shan also said customs would tackle cross-border smuggling by hunting down the warehouses along the coast where criminals stored illegal goods and track whether they began to use other vessels besides their favoured high-powered speedboats.
The State Council appointed Ho, 53, as commissioner of the Customs and Excise Department on the recommendation of the chief executive, making her the first woman to rise through the ranks to the top of one of the city’s six disciplined services. She now also sits on the Committee for Safeguarding National Security, chaired by Hong Kong’s leader, tasked with overseeing efforts to combat crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.
“They may resort to soft resistance and use propaganda materials such as books, magazines and daily necessaries to spread messages endangering the safety of national security,” she said.
