City Briefs

68 mainlanders held in Yuen Long raids

Police and immigration officers arrested 68 mainlanders for immigration offences in a crackdown against illegal workers in Yuen Long early yesterday. The arrests were made when more than 150 officers raided six abandoned farms and containers which were equipped with beds and cooking facilities in villages in the New Territories between 1am and 3.30am. The 61 men and seven women rounded up were all two-way permit holders, aged between 18 and 53.

RURAL TAXI DRIVERS TOLD TO MAINTAINFARES

Ten New Territories taxi associations yesterday came to an agreement to reduce their flagfall fee from $12.50 to $8, but were told by Transport Department officials not to do so. Instead, the officials said they could give discounts on long-distance fares, with details to be formalised later. The moves come after urban taxi drivers' representatives this week suggested cutting their flagfall from $15 to $12 as a way of attracting more business. They also suggested reducing subsequent fare increases to $1, down from the current $1.40.

Dispute over turtle cages sparks villagers' fight

Four men from two villages were arrested when they fought with water pipes and knives in a dispute over cages used to catch turtles in a Shataukok stream. The fight broke out after two villagers from Sheung Wo Hang Tsuen went to clean rubbish out of a stream near their village off Shataukok Road. Two villagers from nearby Tai Tau Leng Tsuen, who had placed cages in the stream to catch turtles, thought the men wanted to steal the cages and confronted them.

Police office ransacked

Burglars ransacked an office on the third-floor of the new police headquarters still being built in Arsenal Street, Wan Chai. A security guard raised the alarm when he discovered a door had been forced open. Police spokesmen were unable to say what had been stolen.