Hong Kong Customs yesterday (June 3) seized about 3 kilograms of suspected methamphetamine with an estimated market value of about $1.6 million at Hong Kong International Airport.

     A male passenger arrived in Hong Kong from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, yesterday. Upon examination of his luggage, Customs officers found the suspected methamphetamine concealed inside the false compartments of three backpacks placed in his luggage. The 33-year-old man was then arrested.

     Investigation is ongoing.

     Under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, trafficking in a dangerous drug is a serious offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $5 million and life imprisonment.

     Members of the public may report any suspected drug trafficking activities to the Customs 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).

  

    The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said today (June 4) that the CFS had been closely following up on the incident of some French raw milk cheese suspected to be contaminated with Escherichia coli (E. coli) (O26) and had earlier suspended the import into and sale within Hong Kong of the affected cheese. CFS' further investigation and the latest information provided by the French authorities revealed that the product recall was extended to cover four other kinds of raw milk cheese which might be contaminated with E. coli (O26) and were manufactured by three processing plants. For the sake of prudence, the CFS has immediately suspended the import and sale in Hong Kong of all raw milk cheese products manufactured by the three plants. The trade should stop using or selling the affected products immediately if they possess them. Members of the public should not consume the products concerned if they have bought any.

    The sanitary marks of the three plants are respectively FR 74.289.050CE, FR 74.096.050CE and FR 74.303.050CE. The four kinds of raw milk cheese include Demi-fromage AOP Reblochon laitier au lait cru (240 grams per pack) under the brand names of Chabert, Saveurs de nos Regions, and Nos Regions Ont du Talent as well as Fromage de Savoie au lait cru (450 grams per pack) under the brand name Tartiflard.

    The CFS immediately contacted major local importers and retailers for follow-up. Preliminary investigation found that the above products have not been imported into Hong Kong. The CFS has also enhanced surveillance on raw milk cheese products imported from France. All results are satisfactory.

    "People will contract E. coli causing gastro-intestinal disease through consumption of contaminated water or undercooked and contaminated foods. Intestinal bleeding and serious complications such as hemolytic uraemic syndrome may also develop in some people. Moreover, due to poor personal hygiene, person-to-person transmission of this pathogen is possible through the oral-faecal route. E. coli cannot survive under high temperature and can be killed by thorough cooking," said a spokesman for the CFS.

    The CFS will alert the trade to the incident. It will continue to closely monitor the incident and take appropriate follow-up action. Investigation is on-going.

The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:

     The Legislative Council (LegCo) will hold a meeting on Wednesday (June 6) at 11am in the Chamber of the LegCo Complex. During the meeting, the Second Reading debate on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (Co-location) Bill will resume. If the Bill is supported by Members and receives its Second Reading, it will stand committed to the committee of the whole Council. After the committee of the whole Council has completed consideration of the Bill and its report is adopted by the Council, the Bill will be set down for the Third Reading.

     The United Nations Sanctions (Amendment) Bill 2018 will be introduced into the Council for the First Reading and the Second Reading.  The Second Reading debate on the Bills will be adjourned.

     On Members' motions, Mr Leung Che-cheung will move a motion on cross-boundary elderly care. The motion states: "That, all along, quite a number of elderly persons in Hong Kong have chosen to spend their twilight years on the Mainland, but the current cross-boundary portability arrangements for welfare benefits made by the SAR Government have a very narrow scope, benefiting only eligible elderly persons who are receiving the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance payments or the Old Age Allowance and have moved to reside in Guangdong or Fujian Province on the Mainland; to facilitate more elderly persons in spending their twilight years on the Mainland, this Council urges the SAR Government to:

(1) extend the arrangements of the Guangdong Scheme and the Fujian Scheme to other provinces on the Mainland;

(2) introduce cross-boundary portability arrangements for the Old Age Living Allowance to support eligible elderly persons who are receiving the allowance and have moved to the Mainland;

(3) abolish the existing absence limit for various welfare benefits under the Social Security Allowance Scheme, and conduct a study on developing an identity verification system with the relevant Mainland departments to obviate the need for elderly persons who have moved to the Mainland to return to Hong Kong for making applications for continuous collection of such benefits on a yearly basis;

(4) introduce cross-boundary portability arrangements for the Disability Allowance such that eligible elderly persons with disabilities aged 65 or above can choose to reside on the Mainland;

(5) optimise the existing Pilot Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong by, for example, purchasing residential care places for persons with disabilities from Mainland residential care homes, and purchasing more quality residential care places for the elderly in various major cities on the Mainland, as well as providing needy elderly persons who choose to reside on the Mainland with one-stop escort arrangements for travelling to and from Hong Kong;

(6) conduct a study on the implementation of a scheme for the transfer of medical records of Hong Kong residents under which, with the consent of the elderly persons who have moved to the Mainland, their medical records will be transferred to designated Mainland hospitals so that they can seek medical consultation conveniently;

(7) conduct a study on extending the scope of application of Hong Kong's Health Care Vouchers to cover major hospitals and clinics on the Mainland, with a view to alleviating the burden of medical expenses on elderly persons who have moved to the Mainland;

(8) by drawing reference from the model of the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, co-establish hospitals in major Mainland cities by Hong Kong and the Mainland and adopt Hong Kong-style management to jointly provide quality healthcare services to elderly persons who have moved to the Mainland; and

(9) by drawing reference from the Pilot Scheme on Community Care Service Voucher for the Elderly, conduct a study on providing elderly persons who have moved to the Mainland with support services for ageing in place."

      Dr Priscilla Leung, Mr Wong Kwok-kin and Mr Alvin Yeung will move separate amendments to Mr Leung's motion.

     Mr Ma Fung-kwok will move a motion on developing venues and creating room to support the development of local culture, arts, recreation and sports. The motion states: "That the lack of venues and room has all along been plaguing local cultural, arts and sports groups, and it is also an important barrier to the development of local culture, recreation and sports; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to take every possible means to create more venues and room for the local cultural, arts and sports sector, so as to promote further development of local culture, arts and sports; the relevant measures include:

(1) building more cultural venues and sports facilities, and expeditiously implementing the outstanding leisure and cultural services projects of the former municipal councils;

(2) reviewing the policy on industrial buildings and updating the definition of 'use of industrial buildings', so that cultural, arts and sports groups can operate in industrial buildings in a sensible, reasonable and lawful manner, and ensuring that future policies proposed on revitalising industrial buildings will be able to cater to the development needs of such groups and safeguard their room for survival;

(3) making better use of vacant school premises and vacant sites for cultural, arts or sports purposes;

(4) opening up more public spaces for cultural and arts purposes;

(5) enhancing the Opening up School Facilities for Promotion of Sports Development Scheme, including providing more assistance to schools that open up their school facilities, and extending the scheme to make it accessible by cultural and arts groups;

(6) enhancing the leasing policy for government venues to make such venues available for full utilisation by cultural, arts and sports groups, and curbing the recurrence of touting activities; and

(7) stipulating in the land lease covenants of suitable new development projects that developers should set aside space to develop certain cultural and arts facilities that have been compressed by market and business factors, such as performance venues and bookshops."

     Mrs Regina Ip, Ms Tanya Chan, Mr Lau Kwok-fan and Mr Au Nok-hin will move separate amendments to Mr Ma's motion.

     Meanwhile, Mr Dennis Kwok will move a proposed resolution under section 34(4) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance to extend the period for amending the Practising Certificate (Solicitors) (Amendment) Rules 2018, laid on the table of the Council on May 16, 2018, to the meeting of July 4, 2018.

     Members will also ask the Government 22 questions on various policy areas, six of which require oral replies. 

     The agenda of the above meeting can be obtained via the LegCo website (www.legco.gov.hk). Please note that the agenda is subject to change, and the latest information about the agenda could be found on the LegCo website.

     Members of the public are welcome to observe the proceedings of the meeting from the public galleries of the Chamber of the LegCo Complex. They may reserve seats by calling 3919 3399 during office hours. Members of the public can also watch or listen to the meeting via the "Webcast" system on the LegCo website.

     Hong Kong Customs today (June 4) seized about 7 000 kilograms of suspected smuggled mercury from a shipping container with an estimated market value of about $2.8 million at the Kwai Chung Cargo Examination Compound.

     Through risk assessment, Customs officers inspected a 40-foot container declared to contain plastic material arriving in Hong Kong from Indonesia. Upon inspection, Customs officers found the suspected smuggled mercury in the container.
     
     Investigation is ongoing.

     Under the Import and Export Ordinance, any person found guilty of importing or exporting unmanifested cargo is liable to a maximum fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.

     Members of the public may report any suspected smuggling activities to the Customs 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).

  

     The Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Frank Chan Fan, will leave for Guangzhou tomorrow morning (June 5) and will have a meeting with the Guangdong Provincial Government on operational matters of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link. He will return to Hong Kong at night.