Category: Police

Police probe shotgun cartridges found on Cheung Sha beach

Police are examining 19 live shotgun cartridges found on Upper Cheung Sha Beach on the weekend.

A local resident walking his dog early Saturday morning found 15 cartridges midway between the low and high tide marks.

A full search on Sunday found another four cartridges, Lantau police said.

The casings,  manufactured by Italian firm RC Cartridges, showed signs of rust but were unused.

They are not used by any Hong Kong law enforcement branch.

The shells have been sent to the forensic firearms division to ascertain their purpose.

Anyone with information can call Lantau police on 3661 1932.

Last year local hikers discovered 800 bullets on remote Nga Ying Shan near Tai O – most likely blanks used in a British military training exercises 30 years ago.

Police seek man over Mui Wo indecent assault

Police have issued a description of a man sought in connection with an indecent assault on Friday evening.

A 63-year-old woman reported the assault at 8pm which she said had taken place on Mui Wo Rural Committee Road .

She said the man was 40-50 years old, 160cm, with a thin build, short hair and wearing white shorts, Apple Daily reported.

A Lantau Police criminal investigation team is handling the case.

Man, 20, dies in Yat Tung tower fall

A 20-year-old man has died after falling from the Ching Yat building in Yat Tung early Sunday morning.

The man, surnamed Chan, lived with his family in the building, Apple Daily reported.

His mother, 59, was later admitted to North Lantau Hospital for observation.

Police are investigating the causes of the death, an apparent suicide.

Samaritans 24-hour hotline 2896 0000

Police warning after $50,000 haul from S. Lantau burglary

Lantau police have warned residents to secure their homes during the holiday season following a New Year break-in that netted thieves goods and cash worth more than HK$50,000.

Burglars entered a San Shek Wan home through an unlocked balcony door to steal HK$7,800 in cash and HK$45,000 in watches and jewellery in the early hours of New Year’s Day.

It is the only robbery over holiday period so far, but police remind residents to keep doors and windows locked.

“Don’t make it easy for thieves. Check that your locks are in good condition and ensure that you lock up at night and whenever you leave the house unattended,” Acting District Commander Kelvin Ho Ka-fai said.

If you have valuables, you may also consider a safe and a home security system, he added.

Police have begun a trial video surveillance system, known as Lantau Eyes, in local villages to deter thieves.

Top ten Lantau News stories for 2017

10. Two arrested over indecent assault on Tung Chung bus

Two men were charged following an alleged sexual assault on a bus – one the alleged assailant, the other the victim’s boyfriend.

9. The Great Fences of Lantau

Metal railings saturate the Lantau landscape, sheltering residents against the dangers that lurk, our photo essay reveals.

8. Tung Chung east reclamation to begin by year-end

The Civil Engineering and Development Department issued a tender for reclaiming 130 hectares from Tung Chung Bay and building seawalls and infrastructure – the biggest part of the Tung Chung expansion project.

7. Rat snacks at Yat Tung noodle stall (pic)

A photo of a rat snacking on a chicken wing at a Yat Tung noodle bar went – what else? – viral.

6. MTR to build another 14,000 apartments on Tung Chung Bay

The MTR joined Tung Chung’s building boom, revealing plans for a residential and retail project at Siu Ho Wan, currently the site of its North Lantau depot.

5. Here come the green minibuses

The Transport Department called a tender for a green minibus service between the new bridge border crossing and Tung Chung.

4. After 18 years on the beach, the Stoep gets new lease of life

The much-loved Stoep closed its doors at Cheung Sha Beach and re-invented itself at Mui Wo.  The beachside restaurant had become a destination for a generation of Hong Kongers.

3. Rooftopping teens breach security in Tung Chung high-rise

Teenagers broke through the security at Caribbean Coast to go roof-topping and create some hair-raising photos to share with their friends. MTR, the Caribbean Coast manager, said it was immediately aware of the breach and ordered the teens off the roof.

2. Thousands of Lantau commuters in line for fare subsidy

Thousands of South Lantau and Tung Chung residents qualified for a new public transport subsidy of up to HK$300 a month for long-distance commuters.

1. Lantau cab driver arrested for overcharging during typhoon

A 60-year-old blue cab driver was arrested for overcharging. Following complaints about cabs refusing fares and hiking prices, plainclothes officers went to the Tung Chung MTR stand just before T8 was hoisted for Typhoon Merbok. The driver was later fined HK$1000.

Rebecca Dykes family sets up charity fund

The family of Rebecca Dykes, a Hong Kong-raised woman murdered in Beirut 10 days ago, has set up a charity fund to support the causes she championed.

“Please give what you can to support the causes my beautiful daughter Rebecca worked so hard for,” her mother, Jane Houng, a Lantau-based writer, posted on Facebook today.

On a crowdfunding site the family said they were seeking to raise £100,000 (HK$1.045m):

This foundation will have the aim of continuing Rebecca’s humanitarian and stabilisation work for refugees and other vulnerable communities, with a particular focus on women’s empowerment and preventing violence against women…

Rebecca was compassionate, caring and committed to humanitarian causes. She worked tirelessly to make the world a kinder, fairer, safer and more stable place.

Most recently, she had undertaken pioneering work in Lebanon, for the UK Department for International Development, to improve the lives of refugees and impoverished Lebanese people, and help these vulnerable communities to become more peaceful and resilient.

Buy lunchtime on Boxing Day the fund had raised £2,660 from 63 donations.

Rebecca, 30, who worked for the UK Department for International Development in the Beirut Embassy, was strangled and her body dumped by the side of the road after night out with friends.

An Uber driver was arrested and has reportedly confessed to her murder.

With burglaries up 20%, Lantau police push video surveillance

Burglaries in Lantau are up 20% in the first 11 months of the year, police say, as they promote a video surveillance scheme for local villages.

Lantau District Police Commander Josephine Mak-Lau Wai-mun said the number of criminal cases this year is similar to last year, but burglaries and criminal damage cases have increased from 30 to 49.

Police are now rolling out a scheme called ‘Lantau Eyes’ in which they make use of CCTV owned by villagers to build up an anti-crime network, Apple Daily reports.

Currently nine villages, including Tong Fuk, Lo Wai village in Pui O and Ma Wan San Tsuen in Tung Chung, are taking part in the trial.

CCTV increases the difficulty of making crimes, Lau said. In Sham Shui Po, where she was previously posted, the number of burglaries had fallen by a quarter after introduction of video surveillance.

She said many of Lantau’s 58 villages were in remote locations, while villagers often were not accustomed to locking up at night or when they left their houses.

Mak said the first phase of the scheme would be to make good use of camera already installed by villagers themselves, while police would work with village leaders and rural committees to invest in the equipment.

Said police would have access to the video data only with the consent of the villagers.

Police also would post notices where videos were operating so that member of the public would be aware they were being recorded.

Fan Chi-ping, chairman of the Tung Chung Rural Committee, said it plans to spend $60,000 to $70,000 on video surveillance for its 16 villages.

Across the border, China has deployed AI-equipped 20 million cameras on city streets in the world’s most aggressive video surveillance programme.

Lantau family mourns death of daughter in Beirut

A South Lantau resident and her partner are today mourning the death of her daughter, a British Embassy worker who was murdered in Beirut two days ago.

Rebecca Dykes, 30, was found dead beside a freeway outside the city on Saturday, apparently abducted and strangled, the BBC reported.

Rebecca had been working in the UK Embassy since January as a programme and policy manager for the Department for International Development.

Rebecca grew up in Hong Kong and graduated from the University of Manchester. She earned a masters in International Security and Global Governance before joining the DFID seven years ago

Her family said in a statement: “We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Rebecca. We are doing all we can to understand what happened. We request that the media respect our privacy.”

Rebecca’s mother, author Jane Houng, posted on Facebook today:

RIP Rebecca Dykes 1987-2017
It’s true. My beautiful daughter was gruesomely murdered in Beirut last Saturday. Please send prayers to her, and respect the privacy of our family during this time. Thank you.

UPDATE: An Uber driver has confessed to Rebecca’s murder, the Guardian has reported.

Eighteen injured after bus hits truck on N. Lantau Highway

At least 18 people were injured when a bus collided with a stationary goods truck near the Lantau Link toll plaza this morning – the latest in a spate of accidents on the airport freeway.

Fire services officers freed two passengers trapped on the upper deck of the bus. One of them, a 40-year-old man, was found unconscious and taken to Princess Margaret Hospital.

Three other passengers suffered “relatively serious” injuries, according to Commercial Radio.

The accident took place at around 5am when a Long Win N31 bus travelling from the airport to Tsuen Wan ran into the back of a medium-sized truck that had stopped on the freeway shoulder, HK01 reported.

The impact of the collision pushed the truck 50 metres forward and severely damaged both vehicles.

The two trapped passengers had been sitting in the front five rows of the bus.

It wasn’t the only accident on the North Lantau Highway this morning.

At around 6am, a motorbike collided with a car in the airport-bound lane, also near the toll plaza. The rider was conscious but unable to speak and was taken to hospital, HK01 reported.

The 14-kilometre highway has come under scrutiny since a taxi driver died in a chain collision ten days ago.

Police are considering extra patrols but the Transport Department has no plans to reduce the speed limit.

 

Photo: HK01

Village chief falls to death near Lantau Peak

A 69-year-old Sha Tin village chief died in a cliff fall at Kau Nga Ling in South Lantau yesterday.

Lau Houming, the head of Sun Tin village, died of head injuries after falling 30 metres.

The Government Flying Service sent two helicopters but he was declared deceased at the scene, Apple Daily reported.

Lau was in a party of 16 that began climbing from Shek Pik. At about 1.30 pm, as they began descending toward Tong Fuk, Lau lost his footing and fell down the slope.

The GFS service said it had to despatch two helicopters to carry the large rescue team – four civil aid staff, a doctor, nurses and flight crew.

Because of the difficult location the rescue helicopter had to make several passes before paramedics could be winched down to the scene.

The hike up Kau Ngau Ling (literally ‘dog teeth ridge’), which lies roughly between Lantau Peak and Shek Pik, is rated as 5-star difficulty.

 

Photo ( top): Government Flying Service