Police today (March 12) appealed to the public for information on a man who went missing in Tai Po. Ng Duan-man, aged 70, went missing after he left a caring centre on Kau Hui Chik Street … read more
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government today (March 12) strongly disapproved of and condemned The Times’ extremely misleading report headlined “Hongkongers to be jailed for keeping old newspapers”. The HKSAR Government considered it necessary to clarify to set the record straight.
A spokesman for the HKSAR Government said, “Not only is the report extremely misleading, its headline is also completely wrong, which misleads people into believing that one can be imprisoned for possessing certain old newspapers, thereby generating panic among members of the public.”
As a matter of fact, according to the relevant provisions on offences in connection with seditious intention in the Safeguarding National Security Bill, a person commits an offence only when he or she possesses a publication that has a seditious intention without reasonable excuse. Whether a publication has a seditious intention will have to be determined after all relevant circumstances are taken into consideration, including the context and purpose of the publication. Relevant provisions of the Bill also stipulate circumstances that do not constitute a seditious intention. As regards the offence of possessing a publication with a seditious intention, the prosecution has to prove that the defendant possesses the publication concerned without reasonable excuse before the defendant may be convicted by the court. It is not possible for a person who does not know that the publication concerned has a seditious intention to be convicted.
The spokesman continued, “Representatives of the HKSAR Government have given multiple examples to illustrate what is meant by ‘reasonable excuse’ at the Legislative Council Bills Committee meeting. The provisions on the proposed offence are clear. Members of the public will not unwittingly violate the law. It is incumbent upon The Times to ensure that reports concerning the Basic Law Article 23 legislation of the HKSAR are fair and just, and stop making scaremongering remarks.” read more
The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority: The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (March 12) the launch of the stablecoin issuer sandbox arrangement. &nb… read more
Hong Kong Customs seized about 87 kilograms of suspected cannabis buds with an estimated market value of about $18 million at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) on March 10. Two men were arrested. This is the largest passenger cannabis trafficking case detected by Customs at HKIA in the past decade.
The case involved two male passengers aged 67 and 48. They arrived in Hong Kong from Vancouver, Canada, via Tokyo, Japan, on that day. During customs clearance, Customs officers found the batch of suspected cannabis buds concealed in their respective checked-in luggage. Both passengers were subsequently arrested.
The two arrested persons have been jointly charged with one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug. They will appear at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts tomorrow (March 13).
Following the increasing number of visitors to Hong Kong, 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 Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (March 12) that in view of a notification from the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) about an outbreak of highly p… read more