Author Archives: hksar gov

     Hong Kong Customs yesterday (January 7) seized about 1 kilogram of suspected cocaine with an estimated market value of about $1 million at the Hong Kong International Airport.

     A male passenger arrived in Hong Kong from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia yesterday and was about to depart to Macao. During customs clearance, the batch of suspected cocaine was found concealed inside the trolley frames of his two check-in suitcases. The man was then arrested.

     The arrested man, aged 25, has been charged with one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug. He will appear at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts tomorrow (January 9).

     Customs will continue to apply a risk assessment approach and focus on selecting passengers from high-risk regions for clearance. The department will also further step up enforcement actions before the Chinese New Year holiday with a view to combat transnational drug trafficking effectively.

     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).

  

     The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, visited the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD)’s contract cleaning workers working in Mong Kok today (January 8), expressing her gratitude for their hard work and relentless efforts for Hong Kong.

     Mrs Lam met and spoke with about 50 cleaning workers to learn more about their working conditions. Presenting them with cookies, Mrs Lam thanked them for their efforts during the recent months when violent clashes broke out frequently in Mong Kok. She noted that they had cleared barricades and objects on roads through the night so that basic cleaning work could be completed before large numbers of members of the public went out in the morning. In addition, in response to the cluster of pneumonia cases detected in Wuhan, Mrs Lam said the Government is stepping up its cleaning work for public facilities to safeguard public health and appealed for assistance by the cleaning workers.

     Mrs Lam said the Government attaches great importance to the well-being of grass-roots workers, and pointed out that she announced in her Policy Address in 2018 improvement measures for the tendering of government service contracts to enhance protection for the rights and interests of outsourced non-skilled employees. The new measures include increasing the technical weighting in marking schemes and raising the weighting for wage levels in technical assessment. Tens of thousands of workers can also enjoy three new benefits, namely entitlement to a 6 per cent contractual gratuity after working for 12 consecutive months, statutory holiday pay upon employment for one month and remuneration at 1.5 times the wage for work performed when Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 8 or above is in force.

     Mrs Lam said, “the new measures were scheduled to come into effect in April in 2019 following their announcement in 2018, but taking into account the opinions of people concerned about labour welfare, I decided to extend the measures to cover contracts tendered out between October 10, 2018, when the Policy Address was announced, and March 31, 2019, so that nearly 10 000 more workers could also benefit.”

     Mrs Lam said she was pleased to note that since the implementation of the new measures, the hourly rates for government outsourced contract workers have substantially increased. For example, the monthly salary of the FEHD’s cleaning workers has increased by 22 per cent when compared to the wage level at the end of 2018. The Government will pay attention to the implementation of the new measures and will continue to explore further room for improvement.

    

     A woman who went missing in Mong Kok has been located.      Hung Chiu-kam, aged 73, went missing after she left her residence on Waterloo Road on January 5 night. Her family made a report to Pol… read more

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:      The Hospital Authority (HA) convened the Central Command Committee meeting today (January 8) and decided to further enhance the surveillance and infection control measu… read more

     Hong Kong Customs today (January 8) seized about 3.2 million suspected illicit cigarettes in Yuen Long. Together with the case effected on January 6 at Shenzhen Bay Control Point, Customs seized a total of about 4 million suspected illicit cigarettes with an estimated market value of about $11 million and a duty potential of about $7.6 million.

     During an anti-illicit cigarette operation in San Tin, Yuen Long today, Customs officers seized a total of about 3.2 million suspected illicit cigarettes from a truck and a metal shed. Two men, aged 42 and 50, were arrested.

     Also, Customs seized about 800 000 suspected illicit cigarettes on board an incoming truck at Shenzhen Bay Control Point on January 6. A 48-year-old male driver was arrested.

     Investigations of the cases are ongoing.

     Customs will continue to step up enforcement against different kinds of illicit cigarette activities before the coming Lunar New Year holiday.

     Smuggling is a serious offence. 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.

     Under the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance, anyone involved in dealing with, possession of, selling or buying illicit cigarettes commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $1 million and imprisonment for two years.

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