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Officers of the Financial Investigation Division of the Narcotics Bureau and the Crime Wing of Kowloon West Regional Police Headquarters jointly mounted an operation codenamed ¡§BONFIRE¡¨ from July 3 to 5, raiding various locations over the territory to combat money laundering, bookmaking and other criminal activities of a triad faction, and arresting 47 persons aged 17 to 65.
Police investigations revealed that members of the triad faction laundered crime proceeds totalling about $250 million in various ways during the past few years. Ten men and one woman, aged 30 to 57, were arrested for ¡§Dealing with Proceeds of Indictable Offence¡¨ during the operation.
Moreover, Police arrested 21 men and 16 women, aged 17 to 65, for offences including ¡§Engaging in Bookmaking¡¨, ¡§Operating/Gambling in a Gambling Establishment¡¨, ¡§Possession of Obscene Article for Publication¡¨, ¡§Possession of instrument fit for injection¡¨, ¡§Dealing with Dutiable Tobacco¡¨ and ¡§Illegal Immigrations¡¨. One of the arrested men, aged 49, was also involved in the above mentioned ¡§Dealing with Proceeds of Indictable Offence¡¨.
During the operation, cash and valuables worth $1.5 million, horse racing betting slips and records amounting to $5.4 million, and bookmaking apparatuses and other contrabands worth about $1.3 million were seized.
The 11 persons arrested for ¡§Dealing with Proceeds of Indictable Offence¡¨ were bailed pending further enquiries and are required to report back to Police in mid July. Nine men and 10 women arrested for the other offences were charged and will appear before Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts tomorrow (July 6), while the other arrested persons were bailed and are required to report back to Police from late July to early August. A 28-year-old man, arrested for ¡§Dealing with Dutiable Tobacco¡¨ and ¡§Illegal Immigration¡¨, had been handed over to Custom and Excise Department for further investigation.
Further investigations will be conducted by the Regional Anti-Triad Unit, Kowloon West.
Police Report No. 268
Ends/Thursday, July 5, 2012
Issued at HKT 22:34
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