*******************************************************
The Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) and the Police successfully mounted a large-scale raiding operation this evening (August 29) against unlicensed radio transmitter equipment suspected to be used by Citizens' Radio at an industrial building at Chai Wan and three hillslope locations on the Kowloon side.
In the operation, seven pieces of equipment and three sets of radio transmitters were seized. One person was also brought to the police station for further investigation.
In the past ten months, OFTA conducted operations which had already led to the confiscation of three sets of unlicensed radio transmitter equipment suspected to be used by Citizens' Radio's broadcast.
"It is our duty to clamp down on unlicensed use of radio transmitter equipment. After months of investigation and close surveillance, we decided to take action this evening. In this operation, other than the radio transmitter equipment, we also targeted the radio equipment at the Citizens' Radio's studio which was used for relaying the content. More than 20 officers were deployed in the operation tonight," a spokesperson of OFTA said.
"The three hillslope locations were used for placing the unlicensed radio transmitter equipment, while the location at Chai Wan was mainly used for relaying voice signals to the unlicensed transmitters," elaborated the spokesperson.
"Unlicensed use of radio transmitters would cause harmful interference to other legitimate spectrum users. As the enforcement agency, OFTA would not tolerate such illegal activities and will continue to take enforcement actions against them," the spokesperson emphasized.
The spokesperson pointed out that it is a criminal offence in contravention of section 8(1) of the Telecommunications Ordinance for any person to operate or maintain a radio transmitter without an appropriate licence. The offender is liable to a maximum penalty of $100,000 fine and five years' imprisonment upon conviction.
Background
----------
Section 8(1) of the Telecommunications Ordinance (the Ordinance) provides that save under and in accordance with a licence granted by the Chief Executive in Council or with the appropriate licence granted or created by the [Telecommunications]Authority, no person shall in Hong Kong ¡K¡K¡K¡K
(a) establish or maintain any means of telecommunications; or
(b) possess or use any apparatus for radiocommunications ¡K¡K.
Section 20 of the Ordinance provides that any person who contravenes section 8(1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable
(a) on summary conviction, to a fine of $50,000 and to imprisonment for 2 years; and
(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine of $100,000 and to imprisonment for 5 years.
Ends/Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Issued at HKT 22:43
NNNN
