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Hong Kong police round up 31 suspected triad members after fighting between rival factions over staring at girlfriends
The trouble within Wo Shing Wo erupted about 10 days ago in Tin Shui Wai
PUBLISHED : Monday, 11 January, 2016, 2:38pm
UPDATED : Monday, 11 January, 2016, 5:27pm
Clifford Lo
[email protected]
Baseball bats, hockey sticks and knuckledusters were confiscated from a delivery van parked near the estate. Photo: Now TV
More than 10 students were among 31 suspected triad members who were arrested by police over the weekend after fights between two factions of Wo Shing Wo triad society broke out in Hong Kong about 10 days ago.
The youths, including a 12-year-old boy of Pakistani origin, were either secondary students or tertiary students, according to police sources.
Intelligence showed that the youths were among the 31 suspects who gathered at a public housing estate in Tin Shui Wai “before going to launch a revenge attack against their rival gang in the district”, a source with knowledge of the attack said.
Anti-triad officers from Yuen Long district police picked up the 31 males aged from 12 to 32 at Tin Wah Estate in Tin Shui Wai shortly before midnight on Saturday. Seven of them, who were of Pakistani origin, were caught on board a delivery van parked nearby.
On board the vehicle, officers seized four knuckledusters, four cricket bats and two baseball bats.
Police arrested the 31 suspects for unlawful assembly or possession of offensive weapons.
As of the early hours of Monday, they were still being held for questioning and none of them had been charged.
The suspects were arrested at Tin Wah Estate, a public housing development in Tin Shui Wai. Photo: Wikipedia
It was understood that the suspects were likely to be released on bail pending further investigation.
The source said it was possible more arrests would be made.
A dispute between the two triad factions erupted about 10 days ago after members from one of the gangs were accused of staring at the girlfriends of the other gang members in Tin Shui Wai, according to another source.
“The dispute prompted a number of fist fights between the two factions, but most of the incidents were not reported to police,” the source said.
He added that the Yuen Long anti-triad squad had been assigned to investigate.
“We will continue to monitor the two gangs closely and take enforcement actions if necessary,” he said.
Police figures showed there were 1,546 reports of triad-related crimes across the city in the first 10 months of last year, a 10 per cent uptick from the same period of 2014.
