Tagged: Tung Chung
Police seize HK$4m in contraband off Tung Chung pier
Police and Customs officers have confiscated HK$3.9 million in electronic goods and seafood following an operation off Tung Chung.
In an early morning operation on Wednesday they intercepted six men carrying boxes from private vehicles to a speedboat at the Tung Chung ferry pier, Oriental News reports.
The smugglers abandoned their goods and cars and jumped into the speedboat. A Marine Police vessel gave chase, but lost conact when the speedboat reached mainland waters.
In a separate operation, a Marine Police patrol intercepted another speedboat loaded with cargo west of the airport. They arrested a 45-year-old man on board.
From the two incidents, officials seized seafood and electronic products worth HK$3.9 million, including bird’s nest, sea cucumber, mobile phones, video game cards, portable memory sticks and digital cameras.
Photo: Wikimedia (Creative Commons)
Tung Chung dog poisonings: death toll rises to 11
The toll in the Tung Chung dog poison case is now 11 following the deaths of five more pets.
In the latest incident, an 80-year-old resident of San Tau, where six dogs died in the early hours of Saturday, called police at 8am Sunday morning after two of his dogs fell ill.
A female dog died at the scene and the other was sent to the SPCA. The second dog, a male, died this morning, SPCA told Lantau News.
Three more dogs died at the Tung Chung Animal Clinic on Saturday, all of whom had been near the Hau Wong Temple, about three kilometres east of San Tau.
Local residents have said they found meat balls suspected of being mixed with poison near the temple and had shared photos via social media, Apple Daily reported.
The head of the pet clinic said that at about 11am on Saturday a dog owner brought in two pets he had been walking at the Hau Wong Temple. Both were vomiting and were suspected of being poisoned.
One died shortly after reaching the clinic, while the other stabilised after receiving an injection. However, after the effects of that wore off at around 6 pm it began convulsing again. The owner, not wanting to see it suffer further, agreed to let it be euthanised.
At 4pm another dog was brought to the clinic which had also been walked near the Hau Wong Temple. The owner said she had seen the dog eating something on the side of the road. After she returned home, it began to convulse and died only a few minutes later.
The AFCD is conducting post-mortems on the deceased animals.
Police arrested a San Tau man on Saturday morning on suspected criminal damage after he allegedly slashed his neighbours’ bike tyres following the sudden deaths of six of his dogs. Lantau North police are investigating.
Photo: Hau Wong Temple, Tung Chung
Six dogs dead, tyres slashed in N. Lantau village dispute
Police have arrested a 45-year-old villager who allegedly slashed his neighbours’ bicycle tyres after six of his dogs died from poison.
The villager, surnamed Cheng, was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. He is said to have had a series of arguments with his neighbours in San Tau, a coastal village opposite Chek Lap Kok Island, about 4 kilometres west of Tung Chung.
When Cheng’s wife fed their dogs congee early yesterday morning, one of them immediately began to vomit and convulse, HK01 reported. It died shortly after, followed by five others in quick succession. Two others are missing.
SPCA staff visited the village yesterday morning and confirmed the dog deaths were a result of poison.
Mrs Cheng with her dogs (HK01 screenshot)
Mrs Cheng said her husband was an indigenous villager who had moved back to San Tau about a year ago. But the couple had felt targeted by the villagers.
Just two days ago she had been woken by dogs barking at 4am. She found one of dog injured but had also encountered a neighbour with a torch near their home. “I wondered why he was wandering near our home at that early hour,” she said.
But unnamed villagers told HK01 that Cheng wasn’t popular in the village and had threatened his neighbours with knives and broken their windows. Before he and his wife moved in, the village was peaceful, they said.
Due to the poor relationship between Yin and its neighbors, the police were called to the village almost every week. said: “We are so anxious we have even installed closed-circuit television and new gates,” one said.
Lantau North Police are investigating.
Photo (top): ‘Dangerous dog within’ – San Tau sign
Rooftopping teens breach security in Tung Chung high-rise
Teenagers have broken through the security in at least one Tung Chung high-rise to go rooftopping a couple of hundred metres above the ground.
Rooftop, Caribbean Coast
In a series of photos posted online by a parent show images of teen rooftoppers on top of Caribbean Coast residential block and other unidentified locations.
MTR Corp, which owns and manages four Tung Chung residential complexes, said in an emailed statement that it was aware of:
unauthorised access by a resident and her guests to the rooftop of one of the residential blocks at Caribbean Coast in late September this year. The unauthorised persons triggered the door alarm and our security guards and police were immediately summoned to handle the case. The unauthorised persons were requested to leave the rooftop accordingly.
However it was unable to throw any light on other photos, taken at night.
Caribbean Coast
Tung Chung resident Sean Earl, who posted the images online, said they had been passed on by an acquaintance who found them on his teenage son’s phone.
I have since found out that kids made their way on to the roof through lax security practice, specifically leaving them the key in the alarm lock which enabled the kids to get up their without setting off the alarm. A CCTV camera would not hurt either.
He said building management struggled to find a happy medium in managing children’s behaviour – sometimes overreacting to minor breaches and turning a blind eye to the more dangerous activities.
Unidentified location
Unidentified location
Govt promises new Tung Chung public market
The government has promised to build a new public market in Tung Chung to meet the district’s growing population.
It’s one of a number of measures on shopping markets announced in the CE policy address earlier in October and confirmed by a senior official in responses to Legco.
The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department is also promising to provide air-conditioning to 11 market sites and to “improve facilities and administration” at all markets, Ming Pao reports. Other new public markets are planned for Tin Shui Wai and Hung Shui Kiu.
Government planners predict that Tung Chung’s population will increase from around 80,000 residents today to approximately 268,000 by the middle of the next decade.
Tung Chung’s Yat Tung, along with Tin Shui Wai, is one of the city’s most economically-challenged areas, with high unemployment and low incomes. Many residents say they are unable to afford local supermarket prices, and take advantage of a government transport subsidy to travel to Mong Kok each week to buy food and necessities.
Community group Alliance on the Development of Public Markets has complained that the government proposal contains no detail and no timetable.
Two years ago the group recommended five sites for a new Tung Chung market, but has so far had no official response. The proposed sites include the Tung Chung Cable Station next to Tat Tung Road Garden, the Chung Wai St bus depot and the Yat Tung No. 3 car park.
The group called on the government to set out its timetable for the construction of the markets and to consult widely on site selection and the market scale.
Photo: Market, Yat Tung (Lantau News)
Two arrested over indecent assault on Tung Chung bus
Two men were arrested following an alleged sexual assault on a bus in Tung Chung last night.
Police say a 35-year-old woman and her 39-year-old friend were indecently assaulted by a man surnamed Choi, 43, in a bus on Kin Tung Rd in Tung Chung North, Oriental Daily reported.
A male friend of the women, a 32-year-old named Hong, is alleged to have then punched Choi in the face, causing an eye injury.
Police went to the scene and arrested Choi and sent him to hospital. They also took Hong into custody over the assault on Choi. Inquiries are continuing.
Tung Chung bad air index hits ‘very high’ – more on the way
Tung Chung’s air quality readings again reached ‘very high’ yesterday, with more bad air forecast for later this week.
EPD air monitoring stations in Tung Chung recorded pollution in the ‘high’ and ‘very high’ levels for four hours late yesterday afternoon, peaking at 5pm.
The ozone reading was 162.7 micrograms, more than 50% above the World Health Organization standard of 100 micrograms per cubic meter. The concentration of fine particulates, PM2.5, reached 58.2 micrograms, 25 micrograms higher than the WHO standard.
The outlook for today is moderate, but the World Air Qualty Index website predicts further high levels this week, in particular Wednesday morning and early Saturday morning.
The high pollution levels across Hong Kong and much of Guangdong are the result of a northeast monsoon which is bringing dry sunny weather and light winds – ideal conditions for photochemical smog.
Under the EPD’s Air Quality Health Index (AQHI), a reading of 7 is high, 8-10 is very high, and above 10 is serious.
In ‘very high’ pollution conditions the EPD advises children, the elderly and those with heart or respiratory diseases to reduce outdoor exertion and stay indoors, especially those living in areas with heavy vehicle traffic.
Police arrest woman over District Councillor office fires
Lantau police have arrested a 40-year-old woman over suspected arson of the Tung Chung office of Islands District Councillor Bill Tang Ka-piu.
Tang’s Yat Tung office was twice set alight yesterday afternoon, local media have reported.
In the first incident at around fire brigade was called after receiving a report at around 3:30pm that the office entrance was on fire.
Another attempt to light the door was made at 5:15. Police went to the scene and seized newspapers and a beer can.
The office, which was unattended because of the public holiday. suffered minor damage.
CCTV had shown a person loitering around the doorway at around 3:15 to 3:30 and had set alight a black plastic bag in the doorway.
Police later arrested a Thai national in Tung Chung. A spokesman said she has a history of mental issues and suicide attempts and has been sent to Princess Margaret Hospital psychiatric assessment.
Anyone who has information on the case is urged to contact the Lantau Criminal Investigation Team at 3661-1941 or 3661-1940.
Tang has been a District Councillor since 2008. He was Legco functional constituency member on behalf of the pro-Beijing Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions from 2012-2016.
Photos: Bill Tang Ka-piu Facebook
Big banks ignore plea for Tung Chung branches
Hong Kong’s major banks have turned a deaf ear to a call for the establishment of branches in Tung Chung.
Islands District Councillor Holden Chow has complained that none of the big three banks – HSBC, Bank of China Hong Kong (BoCHK) and Standard Chartered – has a branch in Tung Chung.
He points out that with the area’s population forecast to triple in the coming years, and with the continued rise in tourist numbers, there was an urgent need to provide banking services to the community.
In a written question at to the District Council he called on the financial regulator, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to press the three banks on the issue.
However, in their responses the banks have confirmed they have no plans to introduce local banking services.
HSBC, which has branches at Discovery Bay, Cathay City, Mui Wo and at both airport terminal buildings, said it reviews its branch network “from time to time” but it is currently not considering one in Tung Chung.
BoCHK and Standard Chartered both said they had noted Chow’s suggestion but would not be taking action.
“Your view has been noted and will used as a reference for the Bank to optimise and adjust branch deployments in due course,” BoCHK said.
Tung Chung air hits danger zone again
Tung Chung air quality once again has reached the most hazardous levels on the government air quality index.
From 4pm-7pm Wednesday, air quality reached 10 and 10+ on the EPD’s Air Quality Health Index (AQHI).
It remained at 10+, the highest level, for more than an hour. At that level the EPD urges people to restrict outdoor activity to the minimum and for children and the elderly to stay indoor.
The index reading for the district remained low this morning, but with a warning of possibly high health risk this afternoon.
It is the second time in 12 days that Tung Chung air has hit hazardous level, a combination of high temperatures and low winds.
The HK Observatory has issued another very hot weather warning today, predicting temperature could reach 35. The temperature at Chek Lap Kok at 10am was 32 degrees.
Lantau Confidential 
