Believed to be the works of Sun Yee On and 14K triad groups, police smashed operations that extorted money from hawkers for allowing them to deliver lunch boxes to workers at five construction sites, reports the Apple Daily.
37 people, 18 men and 19 women, were arrested after the police staged a 10-month undercover operation.
The police explained that the triads made about HK$1 million a month in profits as the operation made hawkers pay HK$50,000 in protection fees just to be able to start selling at the sites – then they had to pay a monthly fee of HK$3,000 to HK$20,000 and a cut for each lunch box sold.
Those who refused payments were intimidated or assaulted.
Police believe there will be more arrests.
Reader Interactions