Off Beat

Narcotics Bureau officers win rare accolades from Japanese police

CSP Koo Sii-hung (second from left), and his Narcotics Bureau officers with their commendations from the National Police Agency of Japan

FOUR Narcotics Bureau officers recently received personal praise and a rarely given commendation from the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency of Japan for helping them smash an operation to smuggle 101 kilograms of the illegal drug "Ice" into the country.

The commended officers were: CSP Koo Sii-hung, SP So Kam-sing, CIP Yeung Chi-choi, and SIP Yam Wai-kwok.

Early this year, after obtaining intelligence that drug traffickers were going to smuggle the dangerous "designer" drug into Japan by sea, Narcotics Bureau officers quickly passed the information to their Japanese counterparts. Superintendent So and Senior Inspector Yam then flew to Japan to assist in the operation which on January 7 resulted in the seizure of the huge quantity of Ice valued at HK$400 million.

The drug was on board a vessel docked at Hamada Port in western Japan's Shimane Prefecture. Nine crew members of various nationalities on board the vessel, as well as six people on the ground Ёа three of whom are Hong Kong residents - were arrested.

To show their appreciation for the contribution of the Hong Kong Police officers, Japan NPA Superintendent Jiro Haraguchi, along with senior officers Koichiro Maeda and Yoshiyuki Oka, came to Hong Kong to present the four Narcotics Bureau officers a personal letter of appreciation.

Said SP So: "It was an honour and personally gratifying for us to receive the letters of appreciation, which we understand are seldom handed out to individuals by the Japan NPA."

Superintendent So stressed that the case was a good example of how the Narcotics Bureau worked closely with overseas law enforcement agencies in the fight against international drug smuggling and criminals.

Raising anti-burglary awareness in Western

LUNAR New Year greeting cards and posters with anti-burglary slogans and telephone numbers of nearby police stations were distributed to residents and security guards during Western District's anti-burglary campaign which kicked off on 31 January at a ceremony officiated by DDC Western, acting Senior Superintendent K K Chow.

Guests included members from the Central and Western Provisional District Board, the Western Kaifong Association and the Junior Police Call.

Junior Police Call members helping to distribute anti-burglary campaign material in Western

"There were 185 burglary cases in 1998 in Western District, indicating a 18.9 per cent increase when compared to the figures of 1997," said acting SSP Chow. "About 20 per cent were incidents which did not involve breaking into houses or flats, while in 14 cases burglars broke into flats by climbing water pipes outside buildings. This indicates that many residents pay little attention to simple crime prevention measures such as locking doors and windows before going out."

Police in Western District have begun to place much emphasis on the need for building security guards and residents to co-operate in tightening anti-burglary measures.