Two non-local men were convicted of money laundering about HK$18 million by using air parcels to cause to be imported a large quantity of undeclared cash into Hong Kong, in contravention of the Cross-boundary Movement of Physical Currency and Bearer Negotiable Instruments Ordinance (CBNIO) and the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance (OSCO). The two men were sentenced to 28 months and 30 months imprisonment respectively at the District Court today (July 17).

     In February 2023, Hong Kong Customs intercepted an air parcel, declared as carrying clothes and books, arriving in Hong Kong from Korea, at Hong Kong International Airport. Customs officers seized a batch of undeclared foreign currency banknotes with a total value of about HK$1.2 million inside. Subsequently, the two non-local men were arrested in Tai Kok Tsui. Follow-up investigations revealed that the two men had repeatedly caused to be imported undeclared cash into Hong Kong to launder crime proceeds since December 2022. The total amount involved reached a total of about HK$18 million.

     Customs welcomed the sentence. The custodial sentence has imposed a considerable deterrent effect and reflects the seriousness of money-laundering offences.

     Under the CBNIO, a person commits an offence if he or she imports or exports, or causes to be imported or exported, in one batch a large quantity of CBNIs (i.e. the total value of which is more than HK$120,000) for which no declaration has been made. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for two years. Meanwhile, under the OSCO, a person commits an offence if he or she deals with any property knowing or having reasonable grounds to believe that such property in whole or in part directly or indirectly represents any person's proceeds of an indictable offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $5 million and imprisonment for 14 years while the crime proceeds are also subject to confiscation.

     Members of the public may report any suspected violation of the above-mentioned ordinances to Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002).

     Hong Kong Customs seized about 5.1 kilograms of suspected methamphetamine with an estimated market value of about $2.5 million at the Kwai Chung Customhouse Cargo Examination Compound on June 25.

     Through risk assessment, Customs on that day inspected a seaborne consolidated consignment, declared as carrying "Personal effects and household goods" and arriving in Hong Kong from Malaysia, at the Kwai Chung Customhouse Cargo Examination Compound. Upon inspection, Customs officers seized the batch of suspected methamphetamine concealed inside three boxes of goods in the container. 

     Upon a follow-up investigation, Customs officers conducted controlled delivery operations and arrested a 39-year-old male consignee, who claimed to be a driver, in To Kwa Wan yesterday (July 16).

     The investigation is ongoing and the arrested man has been released on bail pending further investigation.

     Customs will continue to enhance enforcement against drug trafficking activities through intelligence analysis. The department also reminds members of the public to stay alert and not to participate in drug trafficking activities for monetary returns. They must not accept hiring or delegation from another party to carry controlled items into and out of Hong Kong. They are also reminded not to carry unknown items for other people, nor to release their personal data or home address to others for receiving parcels or goods.

     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 Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002/).

  

     Following is a question by Professor the Hon Chan Wing-kwong and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, in the Legislative Council today (July 17):

Question:

     Regarding the smoking cessation services provided by the Government, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the respective numbers of enquiries received by the Integrated Smoking Cessation Hotline 1833 183 of the Department of Health (DH) and cases requiring further referral for receiving various types of smoking cessation services in each of the past three years and this year to date;

(2) whether it knows the cessation rate among the cases referred for receiving smoking cessation services mentioned in (1);

(3) given that DH has collaborated with a local hospital for the provision of smoking cessation programme using traditional Chinese medicine since April 1, 2010, of the number of cases that have received smoking cessation services provided under the programme since the launch of the programme and the cessation rate among those cases; the number of cases that received smoking cessation services provided under the programme in each of the past five years;

(4) given that DH first launched the Chinese Medicine Ear Points Patches for Smoking Cessation Trial Programme in May this year, of the implementation details of the programme, and whether it has assessed the response to the programme by people who wish to quit smoking; and

(5) whether the authorities will allocate more resources in the future to help smokers to quit smoking; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

President, 

     To safeguard public health, the Government has been adopting a multi-pronged and progressive approach, including legislation, taxation, publicity, education, enforcement and promotion of smoking cessation services, in a bid to reduce the hazards caused by smoking products to the public and the society. Promoting smoking cessation is an important part of the tobacco control strategy. Through tobacco control measures and publicity and education, the Government provides smokers with incentives to quit smoking and also offers free and convenient smoking cessation services to help them quit successfully as early as possible. 

     Having consulted the Hospital Authority (HA), the reply to the various parts of Professor the Hon Chan Wing-kwong's question in the ensuing paragraphs:

(1) to (3) The Department of Health (DH) co-ordinates the provision of smoking cessation services in Hong Kong and operates an Integrated Smoking Cessation Hotline (Quitline: 1833 183) to handle general enquiries and provide professional counselling on smoking cessation. The DH arranges referrals to various smoking cessation services in Hong Kong, including services provided by clinics under the HA, community-based cessation programmes operated by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and will extend the referrals to cover all Districts Health Centres (DHCs)/DHC Expresses across the city shortly, with a view to facilitating persons quitting smoking in finding the most suitable and convenient way to quit smoking. Moreover, the DH collaborates with NGOs in providing a range of community-based smoking cessation services including counselling and consultation by doctors (including free postal services of smoking cessation medication) or Chinese medicine (CM) practitioners, and also targeted smoking cessation services for smokers among young people, ethnic minorities, new immigrants, as well as in the workplace. 

     Past experience from increasing tobacco duty shows that the greater the tax hike, the larger the number of calls received by the Quitline. According to figures from the DH, after the tobacco duty was increased last year, the number of calls received by the Quitline increased from about 7 400 calls in 2022 to about 9 700 calls in 2023, an increase of more than 30 per cent. During the period from the announcement of the tobacco duty increase in this year's Budget to July 2, the Quitline has received 4 475 calls, meaning an average of 249 calls per week, which is more than double the average number of calls per week (114) in the preceding three months before the duty increase. This demonstrates that smokers' willingness to consider to quit smoking has increased significantly in recent years as a result of various tobacco control measures implemented by the Government. The number of enquiry calls received by the Quitline from 2021 to May 2024, and the number of referrals to various smoking cessation services are set out at Annex I.

     In addition to referrals through the DH's Quitline, many smokers will also choose to seek smoking cessation services directly or may receive referrals for smoking cessation services through other channels. From 2021 to 2024 (the first five months), there were respectively 25 965, 20 406, 27 715 and 11 632 (provisional figures) smokers each period receiving smoking cessation services provided by the Quitline, cessation clinics under the HA, and community-based programmes operated by NGOs.

     The quit rates recorded by different smoking cessation programmes vary due to differences in target groups and treatment methods (for example counselling, pharmacotherapy and CM and acupuncture). Smokers should choose the smoking cessation service/method that best suits their personal needs in order to successfully quit smoking. Generally speaking, for users of the above smoking cessation services, the quit rates (i.e. the percentage of service users who self-reported to have stayed quit in the past seven days) at 52 weeks after the quit date ranged from 20 per cent to 60 per cent between 2021 and 2023, which were comparable to those in overseas countries. As for CM smoking cessation services, since the launch of such services by the DH and Pok Oi Hospital (POH) on April 1, 2010, free smoking cessation services with CM and acupuncture have been provided to more than 15 000 smokers, with quit rates at 52 weeks close to 25 per cent in 2022. The number of cases receiving CM smoking cessation services in each of the years from 2019 to 2023 is at Annex II.

(4) Since 2021, the DH has launched the Quit in June campaign to promote smoking cessation services and one-week nicotine replacement therapy trial packs have been distributed for free at more than 250 designated community pharmacies, smoking cessation clinics and DHCs/DHC Expresses with a view to encouraging smokers to attempt quitting. This year, a trial programme on the use of CM ear-point patches for smoking cessation is introduced under the campaign, which involves the application of ear-point patches on the surface of the smoker's ear(s) to stimulate relevant ear points. Prospective quitters may try out such service at 46 designated POH CM clinics (covering more than 200 locations).

     After the rollout of the Quit in June campaign this year, the number of telephone enquiries received by the Quitline has risen sharply. So far, over 2 000 trial packs of nicotine replacement therapy and over 250 trial packs of CM ear-point patches have been distributed. Most of the smokers who have tried the ear-point patches consider them useful in relieving the withdrawal symptoms, showing a very positive response. Due to the short launch time of the service, there is no concrete evaluation data yet. 

(5) Promoting smoking cessation is one of the key components of the Government's overall tobacco control strategies. Various types of smoking cessation services have been provided by the Government, with the concept of facilitating every quit attempt. Moreover, the Government has been publicising to the public the hazards of smoking and the message of smoking cessation in the hope that smokers will consider quitting smoking, thereby achieving the aim of safeguarding public health.

     The Government has announced in June this year the plan to introduce 10 tobacco control measures in the short term. Among these initiatives, the Government has proposed to strengthen smoking cessation services as well as publicity and education through measures such as increasing the number of smoking cessation service points, enhancing CM smoking cessation services, offering smoking cessation services through DHCs under a case-management model, enhancing smoking cessation training for primary healthcare practitioners, using mobile applications to assist smoking cessation, and incorporating more elements related to smoking hazards into regular curriculum of schools.

     In this connection, the DH has subvented two more service providers (up from two to four in total) since last year to operate smoking cessation clinics focusing on counselling and pharmacotherapy. The number of smoking cessation clinics has increased from 10 to 17, including two additional mobile clinics. The total service attendance is expected to be increased by about 40 per cent. On enhancing CM smoking cessation services, the DH will continue to collaborate with local NGOs to bring in more smoking cessation service providers of CM and acupuncture, and increase the number of service centres/clinics. The DH also plans to publish later this year a clinical guide applicable to Hong Kong on smoking cessation with CM and acupuncture, so as to provide guidance for clinical CM practitioners and professionals on the scientific knowledge, assessment and application of acupuncture for smoking cessation.

     In addition, based on the framework of the Life Course Preventive Care Plan, medical professionals of DHCs/DHC Expresses in the 18 districts draw up personalised health plans for the public based on their age, gender, lifestyle, smoking habits and other factors to implement recommendations and healthy habits, such as providing smokers with smoking cessation counselling services, information on smoking cessation medication, and referral to relevant services of smoking cessation clinics for persons in need.

     Besides, the HA will enhance the training of healthcare staff on the knowledge about smoking cessation, and encourage frontline healthcare staff to proactively identify patients with smoking habits and assist them to quit smoking. Manpower will also be deployed to strengthen smoking cessation counselling services as necessary to safeguard the public health.

     On education, the DH has subvented the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health and NGOs to co-organise promotion, publicity and education programmes at schools and in the community, as well as promotion and publicity projects targeting specific populations or sectors, with a view to raising students' and the public's awareness of the hazards of smoking, second-hand smoke and third-hand smoke while fostering an atmosphere conducive to smoking cessation.

     The Government will continue to step up the work on smoking cessation and explore various tobacco control measures in the medium and long term in order to eliminate the social hazards posed by tobacco products in all aspects and protect the health of the public under a progressive and multi-pronged approach.

     Following is a question by Reverend Canon the Hon Peter Douglas Koon and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, in the Legislative Council today (July 17):

Question:

     It is learnt that the blood inventories of the Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service have from time to time been depleted to very low levels in recent years. There are views that with the continued ageing of the population in Hong Kong, the demand for blood supply is expected to be on a continuous rise given the substantial healthcare needs. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:

(1) the total blood collection and the total quantities of blood used by various public and private hospitals across the territory in each of the past five years;

(2) the respective total number of blood donors, percentage of the total number of blood donors in the population within the blood donation age bracket in Hong Kong, and percentage of the total number of regular donors in the population within the blood donation age bracket in Hong Kong in each of the past five years (with a breakdown by age group and gender);

(3) the respective total number of blood donors, total number of first-‍time blood donors, and total number of blood donors who had donated blood twice or more at various donor centres in each month of the past five years (with a breakdown by age group and gender);

(4) the total number of visits made by the Hong Kong Red Cross to (a) secondary schools and (b) tertiary institutions under the School Blood Donation Campaign in each of the past five years and, in such visits, the respective total numbers of (i) first-time blood donors and (ii) non-first-time blood donors; and

(5) the total number of visits made by the mobile blood donation vehicles of the Hong Kong Red Cross to different locations across the territory in each of the past five years and, in such visits, the respective total numbers of first-time blood donors and non-first-time blood donors?

Reply:

President,

     The Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service (BTS) began to promote voluntary blood donation in Hong Kong since 1952. Under the management of the Hospital Authority (HA) since 1991, the BTS provides blood to all hospitals in Hong Kong for use by patients, and continues to be the only institution supplying blood in Hong Kong.

     As the population ages and the demand for healthcare services continues to rise, the demand for blood is also increasing.  However, blood collection efforts are intermittently affected by unforeseen factors, such as the COVID-19 epidemic in recent years, occasional bad weather and changes in travel habits of the public, all of which reduce the public's willingness to donate blood. In view of the above, the BTS actively encourages the public to join the league of blood donors on all fronts and through various initiatives, including introducing a range of medals and certificates to commend supportive donors who have participated in blood donation drives; designing a variety of practical souvenirs based on the mascot Captain Blood; encouraging private enterprises to arrange for their employees to participate in blood donation drives during working hours when mobile blood donation teams (MBDT) or mobile blood donation vehicles (MBDV) visit; and continuously developing more communication channels to strengthen ties with blood donors and the general public.

     The Government and the HA will continue to support the work of the BTS and also call on members of the public, enterprises and organisations to fully support and participate in blood donation drives and donate blood regularly. Endeavoured to provide a stable and safe blood supply to hospitals, the BTS has set up blood donor centres (BDC) across the city and dispatches MBDT and MBDV to visit various districts in the city, offering convenience to the public to donate blood.

     In consultation with the HA, the consolidated reply to the question raised by Reverend Canon the Hon Peter Douglas Koon is as follows:

(1) The annual total blood collection in Hong Kong in the past five years is set out in the table below, with over 90 per cent of the blood collected being used in public hospitals:
 

(2) Over the past five years, the respective total number of blood donors, percentage of the total number of blood donors among Hong Kong’s population within the blood donation age bracket, percentage of the total number of regular donors among Hong Kong’s population within the blood donation age bracket, and number of blood donations (with a breakdown by gender and age group) are set out below:
 

Number of blood donations (by gender)
 

Number of blood donations (by age group)
 

(3) In the past five years, the total monthly blood donations by first-time blood donors and the blood donors who have given blood twice or more, which at the respective BDC, MBDT and MBDV are set out in the following tables:
 

     For information on the age group and gender of blood donors, please refer to the reply to part (2) of the question above.
 
(4) In the past five years, the total number of visits to secondary schools and tertiary institutions under the School Blood Donation Campaign, as well as the total number of donations during these visits by first-time blood donors and blood donors who have given blood twice or more are listed as follows:
 
Secondary Schools
 

Tertiary Institutions
 

(5) In the past five years, the annual total number of visits by the MBDV of the BTS to different locations as well as the number of donations by first-time blood donors and blood donors who have given blood twice or more during these visits are tabulated below:
 
 

 
Note 1: The BTS accepts blood donations from people aged 16-75. This population data in this part is extracted from the information of the Census and Statistics Department.
 
Note 2: Donors who have donated blood twice or more include donors of apheresis donation. Donors of apheresis donation may donate blood more than once a month, so the figures in the table are the number of blood donations.
 
Note 3: The number of visits by MBDT and MBDV to secondary schools and tertiary institutions decreased due to the suspension of classes during the COVID-19 epidemic.
 
Note 4: In April 2019, the BTS introduced a new MBDV to increase the quantity of blood collection.

     The results of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) Examination were released today (July 17). Young persons in custody (PICs) obtained satisfactory results in the examination this year.

     A total of 14 young PICs from Sha Tsui Correctional Institution (STCI), Pik Uk Correctional Institution and Lai King Correctional Institution enrolled in the HKDSE Examination this year. They took a total of 86 examination papers and obtained level 2/"Attained" or above in 80 papers, or 93 per cent of all papers taken. Four of them met the general entrance requirements for local universities, among whom one candidate at STCI scored 22 marks in the best five subjects and obtained "Attained" in Citizenship and Social Development, with level 5 in Economics and Physics respectively.

     The exams sat included the four core subjects of Chinese Language, English Language, Mathematics and Citizenship and Social Development, as well as two electives of Economics and Tourism and Hospitality Studies etc.

     The Superintendent of STCI, Mr Chan Man-yat, said, "The Correctional Services Department (CSD) has strived to improve academic standards of young PICs through education. The Department encourages and assists young PICs to sit for the HKDSE Examination, enabling them to develop good character and obtain recognised academic qualifications so as to enhance their
employment prospects and facilitate their further education, preparing them for reintegration into society."

     Preparation of young PICs for the HKDSE Examination is not an easy task, Mr Chan added. He was glad to see that the PICs had worked tirelessly, demonstrated determination and perseverance, and overcome learning difficulties with a positive attitude throughout the process. Family support as well as guidance and assistance from the staff and teachers of the CSD also gave them great encouragement. He encouraged young PICs to maintain a proactive and positive attitude to meet the challenges ahead.

     The CSD has provided education to help young PICs below 21 years of age to gain accredited qualifications and develop positive values, hoping that they can further their studies, find jobs and reintegrate into society after release.