The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, today (November 5) will lead a delegation for a three-day visit in Beijing to meet relevant Mainland authorities and introduce to Mainland officials the latest development of various healthcare policies in Hong Kong, with a view to pursuing deeper exchanges and further co-operation with the Mainland in the healthcare aspect.
      
     The Permanent Secretary for Health, Mr Thomas Chan; the Director of Health, Dr Ronald Lam; the Chairman of the Hospital Authority (HA), Mr Henry Fan; and the Chief Executive of the HA, Dr Tony Ko, are among the delegation. Professor Lo will return to Hong Kong on November 8. During his absence, the Under Secretary for Health, Dr Libby Lee, is the Acting Secretary for Health.

     Hong Kong Customs on October 25 detected a large-scale seaborne drug-trafficking case, and seized about 484 kilograms of assorted drugs with an estimated market value of about $140 million at the Tsing Yi Customs Cargo Examination Compound. A 23-year-old man suspected to be connected with the case was arrested.

     Through risk assessment and intelligence analysis, Customs inspected a 40-foot seaborne container, declared as carrying 15 air compressors, arriving in Hong Kong from Northern America at the Tsing Yi Customs Cargo Examination Compound on October 25. Upon examination, Customs officers found about 484kg of assorted drugs, including about 311kg of suspected cannabis buds, 88kg of suspected methamphetamine, 82kg of suspected 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and 3.2kg of suspected fentanyl, concealed inside 15 air compressors. The estimated market value amounted to about $140 million.

     A follow-up investigation led to the arrest of a 23-year-old man, suspected to be connected with the case, in Tuen Mun on November 3.

     Customs believes the operation has successfully intercepted the inflow of the batch of drugs to local markets. An investigation is ongoing. The likelihood of further arrests is not ruled out.

     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 the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, Miss Alice Mak, at a media session after attending a radio programme today (November 5):
 
Reporter: Miss Mak, can you recap in English how is Care Teams' (District Services and Community Care Teams) function affected as some of its members are going to join the District Council election?
 
Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs: So far around 460 Care Team members declared that they will involve in the election-related activities, either they are candidates running in the election, or they are the election agents of those candidates. And they have already acted according to our guidelines and declaration mechanism, so they have already declared to the District Officers. Their services will suspend for a period of time during this election.
 
     This reflected that we have a very effective declaration mechanism to ensure that all Care Team members observed our mechanism, so that the election can be carried out in a fair and proper manner. During this period, we still have more than 4 000 Care Team members providing services in our districts. Our Care Team services will not be affected by the temporary suspension of certain members, that is less than 10 per cent of total number of our Care Team members.
 
     And also the mobilisation ability of Care Teams is the main concern. When organisations applied for being a Care Team, they need to show their capabilities in local and cross district mobilisation. This is reflected during the rainstorm in September. We can see that the Care Team in Shek O could not discharge their duties because of the temporary suspension of the land transport. So Care Teams from other districts went to help them. This is the proof of the mobilisation capability of the Care Teams, ensuring that the service of the Cares Teams will not be affected just because of the temporary suspension of certain members.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

The following is issued on behalf of the Liquor Licensing Board:

     The Liquor Licensing Board (LLB) will meet on Tuesday (November 7) to consider an application for amendment and renewal of liquor licence.

     The application is:
 
Hong Kong:
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HONKY TONKS TAVERN in Central

     The meeting will be held at 9.45am in the conference room, Room 102, 1/F, 258 Queen's Road East, Wan Chai. Members of the public are welcome to attend.

Attention TV/radio announcers:

Please broadcast the following as soon as possible:

     Here is an item of interest to swimmers.

     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (November 5) that due to big waves, the red flag has been hoisted at Big Wave Bay Beach in Southern District, Hong Kong Island. Beachgoers are advised not to swim at the beach.