Guangdong Police to Further Join Hands with HK, Macao CounterpartsThe amount of organized crime has declined thanks to the joint efforts of police in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.But criminal events organized by gangs still exist in this prosperous southern Chinese province, threatening its social order and preventing the economy from doing well, said a senior provincial security official Thursday. Zheng Shaodong, deputy director-general of Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Public Security, said illegal activities in gambling in Hong Kong's ho gfryrse racing and its lottery, organized by gangs from Hong Kong and Macao, have come to Guangdong Province, particularly in the Pearl River Delta. Guangdong police have cracked down on such cases in the province. "But we cannot relax our vigilance in fighting crime," Zheng said. He promised to further co-operate with his Hong Kong and Macao counterparts to fight cross-border crimes and organized gangs in the years ahead. Cross-border drug-trafficking, organized illegal immigration, robbery, kidnapping and prostitution will be the main targets for co-operation, Zheng said. In previous years, Guangdong police have worked well with Hong Kong and Macao to crack down on cross-border crimes and gangs, Zheng said. By the end of July, Guangdong police had transferred to their Hong Kong counterparts 138 criminals, 199 stolen cars, 10 yachts, 1,178 computer printers, 14 containers, 58,838 square feet of Italian genuine leather and 15,485 tons of steel. Meanwhile Guangdong police had also turned over more than HK$3.9 million (US$502,000) plus 8.7 million yuan (US$1.05 million) worth of illegal money and stolen goods back to Hong Kong. In recent years, Guangdong and Hong Kong have successfully co-operated on Cheung Tse-keung's kidnapping case, Zhanjiang smuggling case and the HK$10 million-plus (US$1.32 million) hovercraft robbery case in Guangdong and Macao waters. Cheung Tse-keung, known as "big spender," was a major chief of Hong Kong's secret society, and was arrested and sentenced to death in Guangdong in 1998. That was a heavy blow to gangs in the region. Cheung and his gang kidnapped a Hong Kong tycoon and asked for more than HK$800 million (US$103 million) in 1997. They received the money. The major organizers of the so-called hovercraft robbery case were arrested by Guangdong police in the province in 1998. The co-operation between Guangdong and Hong Kong in fighting cross-border crimes began as early as 1981. Both sides have now established a special liaison officer system and a 24-hour hotline to strengthen co-operation. Senior police officers from Guangdong and Hong Kong meet each year to discuss how to work together even more to further the fight against crime. |
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