Crime rate down through October; murders up 62%

There were 65,257 crimes reported in the first 10 months of the year, down 2.5 percent year-on-year, with violent crime down 2.8 percent to 12,028 cases.

Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee said yesterday that miscellaneous theft, theft from vehicles, serious assault and criminal-damage cases fell 4.8 percent, 17.9 percent, 5.8 percent and 4 percent, respectively.

However, there were 34 homicides, up 61.9 percent year-on-year. And retail thefts, burglaries, and serious narcotics offenses rose 6.2 percent, 6.1 percent and 8.9 percent.

Man guilty of defrauding banks for HK$260m

A merchant has been convicted by the District Court for his role in a HK$260 million letters-of-credit fraud based on non-existent commercial transactions.

Chen Xun, 75, was found guilty of five counts of conspiracy to defraud. Deputy Judge Johnny Chan adjourned sentencing to Dec 8, remanding Chen in custody.

Between August 1994 and March 1996, Chen conspired with others to defraud the Hong Kong branches of Kincheng Banking Corporation, Kwangtung Provincial Bank and the Bank of China.

Mainlander busted at airport with cocaine

Customs officers arrested a mainland man at Hong Kong International Airport after finding 1.97 kg of cocaine worth HK$1.9 million in his luggage Wednesday. The 39-year-old man arrived in Hong Kong on board a flight from Sao Paolo, Brazil, via Frankfurt, Germany, and was immediately arrested after officers found the illegal drugs hidden inside five cans of ground coffee.

Authorities believed the man was hoping the color and fragrance of ground coffee would deceive drug-sniffing dogs and hide the packets of cocaine from view.

PCCW launches new mobile telephone service

PCCW-HKT Telephone has launched its CDMA2000 mobile service - Hong Kong's fifth 3G mobile network after the four W-CDMA networks licensed in 2001.

The Office of the Telecommunications Authority said yesterday the new network offers high-speed data and voice services conforming to the CDMA2000 standard in areas covering the Kowloon peninsula and northern Hong Kong Island. Service coverage will be extended to the airport, subway stations, road tunnels and boundary checkpoints.

China Daily

(HK Edition 11/21/2008 page1)