POLICE BLOTTER

Senior inspector Ron Yung reports on recent cases around town

Not so sneaky

In the early hours of March 22, a police roadblock stopped a taxi on Tai Mong Tsai Road. Upon inspection of the taxi police found four illegal immigrants from China inside. The illegal immigrants and taxi driver were arrested at the scene.

Wheely annoying

A 59-year-old male reported two bicycle wheels missing on the evening of March 2. The man had chained his bike to railings in Sha Kok Mei before heading to work at 5:30am. Upon his return he found the wheels gone. The case is still under investigation.

I’m blue Da Ba Dee

On the evening of February 22 a 58-year-old bus driver parked his private light bus on Chui Tong Road. When he went to drive it the next morning he found the windscreen and windows of the bus spray painted blue. The case is still under investigation.

Late night or early morning?

Sai Wan at 4:30am, he slipped and injured his right leg. The man was airlifted to Wan Chai Hospital in a conscious state.

A weight on her shoulders

A female, aged 33, brought three boxes of weight loss pills on Instagram on February 25. When she never received the pill she found her account had been blocked by the seller. The case is still under investigation.

A bit too much

A 70-year-old female with a history of heart disease went walking with her sister to Tai Lam Wu. She reported feeling dizzy and was sent to Tseung Kwan O hospital in a conscious state.

Burglary prevention: • Secure doors and windows • Activate anti-burglary measures • Call 999 if you encounter a suspicious person A smashing start to the day

A male, aged 33, parked his car at Tin Liu at 7pm on February 13. Upon his return the next day he found his windscreen had been smashed, but no valuables taken. The case is still under investigation.

What’s happening at sea

Based in Tui Min Hoi, Marine East Division is the local base of the Marine Police.

At 5pm on February 15 a female, aged 37, reported that her boat had broken down off Bluff Island. When police arrived they found the woman and her male friend on board without injury. The boat was later towed back to the town by another vessel.

Dog bite at a fish farm

On the afternoon of February 17 a male, aged 85, visited a fish farm in Tai Tau Chau. When he arrived an unleashed dog bit him and cut his left jaw. The man took himself back to Sai Kung Public Pier and contacted the police who took him to Tseung Kwan O Hospital. The dog owner was located by marine police and the case was handed over to the AFCD.

Scuba safely

On the morning of March 14 a male, aged 59, and three friends went scuba diving at east Tung Lung Chau. When his friends couldn’t find the man underwater, they contacted the police. The Police and Fire Serves Department located the man unconscious underwater, he was certified dead at Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital.

Another drowning

A female, aged 60, and three friends went snorkelling at Lung Ha Wan on the morning of March 12. At 12.40pm the woman lost consciousness in the water and her friend attempted to rescue her and called the police. The woman was certified dead at Tseung Kwan O Hospital.

Carol Biddell is one of the members of Friends of Sai Kung (FSK), a dedicated not-for-profit community organisation that seeks to preserve Sai Kung’s environment. From hosting seminars, exhibitions and lectures to analysing the quality of life and environmental status of Sai Kung, as well as implementing conservation projects, FSK works to highlight ways in which the community can do their part to protect their beautiful, little corner of Hong Kong.

Biddell is one of the people who runs FSK, conducting beach cleanups, monthly recycling events and most recently, their new campaign to collect juice and milk cartons to recycle. When asked what her reason was for committing to a volunteer organisation like this one, she simply responded, “living in Sai Kung especially when my children were young, we spent a lot of time at beaches. Seeing them covered in plastic and other trash was just heartbreaking.”

For Biddell, it all started with those beach cleanups. Now, she oversees a scheme with the government to recycle beverage boxes from cafes and restaurants in Sai Kung. “Because it is multilayered with paper plastic and foil, it cannot be mixed with cardboard and paper for recycling. If you put it in the normal recycling bins, it will just be sent to the landfill, so we are happy to say that we have expanded our collection points,” says Biddell. Friends of Sai Kung has been collecting these difficult-to-recycle packs for over two years now, and sending them to Mil Mill in Yuen Long, the first recycled pulp mill and education center for paper-packed beverage boxes in Hong Kong. They process about 20 tons of these boxes every day in order to make recycled pulp. “So much plastic ends up in the ocean, it degrades or gets eaten by sea life, either killing the sea creatures or ending up in our food chain. I wish more people understood this.”

Asopie is a company that sells pure, organic and natural superfruit products that are unique to Suriname, Wendell Paulus’s home country in South America. “I was born in a tribal village in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. Living in balance and harmony with nature and our surrounding environment is part of who I am and what life is all about for us, tribal Amazonian people,” says Paulus. With Asopie, Wendell is able to make use of century-old traditions to create economic opportunities for the natives in sustainable agriculture.

Having come from a career in petroleum engineering, Paulus has witnessed first-hand the devastating effects of “invasive economic development”. “With a background in the mining industry, I have been on both sides of this issue,” confesses Wendell. With a deeply personal connection to his work, the Asopie founder feels a fiery conviction to continue spreading awareness, “The impact of environmental abuse is swift in our tribal communities in the Amazon: deforestation and pollution due to mining or timber harvesting in your backyard means immediate displacement of communities, limited access of clean water or land for crops.”

Recognising the big players in the game, Paulus was quick to call out the reality of our world’s current environmental problems. “Corporations, institutions and governments have the means and the power to facilitate and magnify the change we so need, and they are rightly expected to be the trailblazers who need to make shifts happen,” says Paulus. “However, institutions, corporations and governments are made of people. I think this is what people fail to see. Real change starts with the people and when it comes to the environment it all relies on our attitude towards it.”

Paulus is right. Change begins at home, which is why every individual’s actions matter. Your choices affect every ripple in the tide – another reason to support Asopie and the work Wendell does with his wife, Roberta Boffo. “It is hard sometimes to figure out how to protect the products, especially our fresh produce, in ways that are natural and healthy, over their travel time from Suriname to their destination,” explains Paulus. “It is tough to find ways to reduce wastage and really focus on being as sustainable as possible when you are just starting up, but if it is something that matters to you as a person, it will show in the course of your path as a business owner.”

David and Nicola Newbury moved to Hoi Ha in 1996. “Friends thought it was an eccentric move, it was an isolated, unknown village back in those days with no minibus, no terrestrial TV and not even any Government water. To my mind, it was a slice of paradise,” admits Newbury. “The bay was a Site of Special Scientific Interest, an SSSI, on account of its corals, and it was about to be gazetted as a Marine Park. The biggest thrill of all was that there were seahorses in the sea.”

Her little slice of paradise was soon under fire, though – quite literally. “A joint Hong Kong-Canadian film crew turned up [to Hoi Ha] with actors dressed as soldiers, firing blanks around the village and on the beach. Even worse, they’d had a boat delivered which they anchored by the jetty and filled with dynamite,” recalls Newbury, who quickly acted by contacting the World Wide Fund for Nature in Hong Kong. While waiting for police to arrive, Newbury spoke to the film Director and informed her that it was a protected area. Wading into the water herself to ensure that the dynamite wouldn’t detonate, Newbury waited for authorities to arrive. Unfortunately, they didn’t until it was too late. “The boat was spectacularly blown up, the beach soon littered in dead sea urchins.

Finally, the Police decided it was of interest after all and turned up at 1am, evicting the film crew.” This event is what spurred Newbury to write her first press release, “I never really looked back. That was the start of 26 years of environmental advocacy.” “The biggest threat to Hoi Ha Wan will be pollution from poorly-regulated septic tanks and unregulated farming activities in the water catchment areas. Policing of environmental regulations is poor, particularly in regard to building and agricultural activities. I cannot see this getting any better,” Newbury bluntly says. Ever the realist with her faith in science, however, she still believes there’s a way to turn things around. “There are still places where the public can influence Government decisions – bodies such as the Town Planning Board and the Country and Marine Parks Board can be lobbied to ensure that the needs of conservation are properly taken into account and that the conservation movement is given as much attention as other vested interests.” Newbury walks the walk, too. Each day, she monitors Hoi Ha to ensure no illegal activities that could harm the area take place. “It is said that we all need a passion in life. I have certainly found mine; I love what I do. Accompanied by my 2 rescue dogs, Pizza and Nipper, I patrol the Marine Park beaches, the river valley and surrounding hillsides twice a day, clad in my wellies and armed with 2 cameras. I clean up debris washed up on the incoming tides, and keep an eye out for illegal activities such as animal traps and incense tree cutting.”