SAR 'SHOULD BE WIPED OFF US DRUG-TRAFFICKING HIT-LIST'

Hong Kong should be removed from a global "hit-list" of major illegal
drug-producing and trafficking centres, according to the United States' top
anti-narcotics official.

US national drug policy chief Barry McCaffrey made the call yesterday after
arriving here to present a cheque for US$907,084 (HK$7.1 million) in seized
drug money to Secretary for Security Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee. The sum amounted
to half the assets seized in a 1996 joint anti-drug operation carried out by
US and SAR law enforcement agencies which smashed a massive marijuana and
hashish-smuggling operation in the US.

"After what I've seen here, I can strongly recommend to Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright that Hong Kong be removed from the 'majors
list'," Mr McCaffrey said.

Last year, US President Bill Clinton unveiled a list of 26 countries
deemed to be major drug producers and transit points. Hong Kong
remains on the list. Mr McCaffrey - who spent several days on the
mainland as part of a tour of Asia - was confident the SAR would be
removed on his return to Washington.

During his one-day stopover, Mr McCaffrey met high-level Customs
Department and Narcotics Division officials and also toured the port
inspection facilities at Kwai Chung. He arrived in Hong Kong just two
days after signing a landmark agreement with mainland officials to
enable the two countries to begin sharing evidence.

"I am enormously encouraged by the commitment to partnership by
Chinese authorities," Mr McCaffrey said, calling the occasion the
beginning of the opening-up process between the law enforcement arms
of the US and the mainland. He also praised Hong Kong's long tradition
of co-operation with US law enforcement agencies.

It was the second time assets seized in drug busts had been shared
between the two countries, Mrs Ip said. "In 1998, we passed to the US
Government US$2.2 million in the Chan Ching-wai case," she said. "You
can count on our support to fight global drug-related crime."

Chan, a fugitive drug trafficker who jumped bail in 1989, left behind
$42.3 million in seized assets. Hong Kong has joined the US in more
than a dozen drug investigations, resulting in the confiscation of
assets in excess of $350 million.