Hong Kong Customs yesterday (April 8) detected a dangerous drugs internal concealment case involving two incoming passengers at Hong Kong International Airport and seized about 1 kilogram of suspected cocaine with an estimated market value of about $1 million.
      
     A 37-year-old male passenger and a 41-year-old female passenger arrived in Hong Kong from Paris, France, yesterday. During customs clearance, Customs officers suspected that the passengers had dangerous drugs concealed inside their body cavities. They were then escorted to the hospital for examination.
      
     Upon examination, they were confirmed by a doctor to have foreign objects concealed inside their body cavities. They were arrested immediately. As at 8pm today (April 9), the arrested persons have discharged 120 pellets of suspected cocaine weighing about 1 kilogram in total.
      
     The arrested persons have been charged with one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug respectively. The case will be brought up at the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts tomorrow (April 10).
      
     Following the resumption of normal travel and exchanges with the Mainland and other parts of the world, the number of visitors to Hong Kong has also been increasing steadily. Customs will continue to apply a risk assessment approach and focus on selecting passengers from high-risk regions for clearance to combat transnational drug trafficking activities.
      
     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/).

  

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The Hospital Authority (HA) delegation visited Shanghai and Hangzhou on April 8 and 9 to promote healthcare talents exchange and collaboration. The delegation also visited medical schools of three universities with recognised medical qualifications to promote various registration pathways for non-locally trained doctors to work and exchange in Hong Kong in order to build up the healthcare talent pool in Hong Kong.

     The delegation visited the Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine (SJTUSM) in Shanghai, and the Zhejiang University School of Medicine (ZUSM) in Hangzhou respectively. During the visits, the delegation has introduced the Global Healthcare Talent Scheme and various exchange programmes, and received briefings on the curriculum of medical education by respective universities. The delegation also visited the Renji Hospital, SJTUSM and the First Affiliated Hospital, ZUSM to learn the latest developments of healthcare institutions and technology in the Mainland.

     The HA Chief Executive, Dr Tony Ko said, "The universities we visited offer medical qualification courses that are recognised by the Special Registration Committee. By promoting mutual exchange, we hope to let more Mainland medical students learn the working environment in Hong Kong's public hospitals, with an aim to expand the talent pool of public healthcare system in the region to cope with the growing service demand."

     The delegation also met with the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission to explore and to strengthen the mutual exchange of healthcare talents between Hong Kong and the Mainland, and to implement relevant arrangement in a pragmatic and orderly manner.

     Dr Ko said that, apart from local healthcare talents, to dovetail with and support the national development strategy of deepening co-operations between Hong Kong and the Mainland, the HA is also enhancing exchanges with healthcare talents in different Mainland cities in terms of depth and breadth, so that healthcare talents can leverage on respective strengths on a complementary principle to further improve the level of medical services of Hong Kong.

        

     â€‹The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (April 9) that in view of a notification from the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) about outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in Ionia County of the State of Michigan and Parmer County of the State of Texas in the United States (US), the CFS has instructed the trade to suspend the import of poultry meat and products (including poultry eggs) from the above-mentioned areas with immediate effect to protect public health in Hong Kong.

     A CFS spokesman said that according to the Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong imported about 37 770 tonnes of chilled and frozen poultry meat and about 83.84 million poultry eggs from the US last year.

     â€‹â€‹"The CFS has contacted the American authority over the issue and will closely monitor information issued by the WOAH and the relevant authorities on the avian influenza outbreaks. Appropriate action will be taken in response to the development of the situation," the spokesman said.

     The second annual session of the 14th National People's Congress and the second session of the 14th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee ("two sessions") were concluded successfully in March this year. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government today (April 9) held a seminar on learning the spirit of the "two sessions" at the Central Government Offices, so as to enable the participants to have a deeper understanding of the essence of the "two sessions" and its significance to Hong Kong's future development.
 
     The seminar was hosted by the Chief Executive, Mr John Lee. The Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR, Mr Zheng Yanxiong, was invited to the seminar to share his views. The seminar was attended by more than 200 participants, including Principal Officials of the HKSAR Government, Members of the Executive Council and Legislative Council, Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Department.
 
     Speaking at the seminar, Director Zheng pointed out that the HKSAR has to grasp the spirit of the "two sessions" focusing on seven aspects. They are, namely, grasping deeply the spirit of the important speech of General Secretary Xi Jinping; grasping the significant achievements of the country on all fronts over the past year; grasping the determination and confidence in national economic and social development; grasping the tenet that high-quality development is the fundamental principle of the new era; grasping the strategic plans for developing new quality productive forces; grasping the various plans for this year's agenda put forward by the "two sessions"; and grasping the profound importance and key plans for Hong Kong as highlighted by the "two sessions". The government work report made a number of references to significant plans closely related to Hong Kong, including financial services, supporting the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to better play its role as power sources for high-quality development, promoting high-quality Belt and Road co-operation, and promoting entry to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. The important development paths mentioned in the report, in particular those concerning high-quality development and the development of new quality productive forces, deserve a high degree of attention from Hong Kong.
 
     On behalf of the HKSAR Government, Mr Lee expressed his gratitude to Director Zheng for his sharing, which benefited the participants greatly by giving them a deeper understanding of the spirit of the "two sessions". He sincerely thanked the Central Government for fully acknowledging and staunchly supporting the work of the HKSAR Government. He pointed out that the Central Government's unwavering support for the high-quality development of Hong Kong's economy had brought significant historic opportunities for Hong Kong's development. He encouraged the HKSAR Government officials and all sectors of the community to implement the spirit of the "two sessions" and remain united to give full play to it in their work, leveraging the advantages of "one country, two systems" to better seize the nation's high-quality development opportunities and integrate into the country’s overall development.

     A man who went missing in Kwai Chung has been located.

     Li Anzhi, a Mainland man aged 83, went missing after he left his residence in Lai Yiu Estate yesterday morning (April 8). His family member made a report to Police on the same day.

     The man was located on Hing Fong Road in Kwai Chung this afternoon (April 9). He sustained no injuries and no suspicious circumstances were detected.