In connection with a murder and wounding case happened in Yuen Long on January 22, Police further arrested one 18-year-old man and 25-year-old man for murder, wounding and trafficking in dangerous drug; and one 26-year-old man for trafficking in dangerous drug and assisting offenders in Castle Peak on February 15.
     In the murder and wounding case, a 24-year-old man died and a 28-year-old man was injured.

     The 18-year-old man and 25-year-old man were laid holding charges with one count of murder, one count of wounding and one count of trafficking in dangerous drug respectively; while the 26-year-old man was laid holding charges with one count of trafficking in dangerous drug and one count of assisting offenders. The case will be mentioned at Fanling Magistrate’s Courts in tomorrow morning (February 18).

     Police arrested another eight men and two women, aged between 19 to 31, in suspected connection with the case earlier, for offenses such as murder, wounding and assisting offenders.

     For the four men who had been charged earlier, the case was mentioned at Tuen Mun Magistrates' Courts and Fanling Magistrates’ Courts on January 25 and 27 respectively. The other four men and two women were released on bail and are required to report back to Police in late February and early March.

     Active investigation by the Regional Crime Unit of New Territories North is under way. Anyone who witnessed the case or has any information to offer is urged to contact the investigating officers on 3661 3356.

     â€‹Hong Kong Customs on January 28 conducted an operation against counterfeiting activities in Yuen Long and seized about 11 000 suspected counterfeit items, including scarves and clothing, with an estimated market value of about $5.8 million. 

     Acting upon intelligence, Customs officers on that day inspected three batches of temporarily stored goods in two logistics warehouses in Yuen Long, uncovering the batch of suspected counterfeit goods. 

     The case is still under investigation. The likelihood of arrests is not ruled out.

     Customs will continue to step up inspections and conduct intelligence-led enforcement to vigorously combat counterfeit and infringing goods activities at different levels.

     Under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, any person who imports or exports any goods to which a forged trademark is applied commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for five years.

     Members of the public may report any suspected counterfeiting or infringing activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002).

  

     â€‹Hong Kong Customs on January 28 conducted an operation against counterfeiting activities in Yuen Long and seized about 11 000 suspected counterfeit items, including scarves and clothing, with an estimated market value of about $5.8 million. 

     Acting upon intelligence, Customs officers on that day inspected three batches of temporarily stored goods in two logistics warehouses in Yuen Long, uncovering the batch of suspected counterfeit goods. 

     The case is still under investigation. The likelihood of arrests is not ruled out.

     Customs will continue to step up inspections and conduct intelligence-led enforcement to vigorously combat counterfeit and infringing goods activities at different levels.

     Under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, any person who imports or exports any goods to which a forged trademark is applied commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for five years.

     Members of the public may report any suspected counterfeiting or infringing activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002).

  

     The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) published today (February 17) the February 2025 issue of the "Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics" (HKMDS).
 
     Apart from providing up-to-date statistics, this issue also contains a feature article entitled "Road Traffic Accident Statistics in Hong Kong, 2014 to 2023". Statistics presented in the "Road Traffic Accident Statistics in Hong Kong, 2014 to 2023" article are based on the data source from the Statistics Section of the Transport Department.
 
"Road Traffic Accident Statistics in Hong Kong, 2014 to 2023"
 
     There were 17 189 road traffic accidents in Hong Kong in 2023, involving 22 269 casualties and 28 808 vehicles. This feature article analyses the road traffic accidents and the characteristics of casualties and vehicles involved in these accidents from 2014 to 2023.
 
     For enquiries about this feature article, please contact the Statistics Section of the Transport Department (Tel: 3842 6067; email: rssd@td.gov.hk).
 
     Published in bilingual form, the HKMDS is a compact volume of official statistics containing about 130 tables. It collects up-to-date statistical series on various aspects of the social and economic situation of Hong Kong. Topics include population; labour; external trade; National Income and Balance of Payments; prices; business performance; energy; housing and property; government accounts, finance and insurance; and transport, communications and tourism. For selected key statistical items, over 20 charts depicting the annual trend in the past decade and quarterly or monthly trend in the recent two years are also available. Users can download the Digest at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/EIndexbySubject.html?pcode=B1010002&scode=460).
 
     Enquiries about the contents of the Digest can be directed to the Statistical Information Dissemination Section (1) of the C&SD (Tel: 2582 4738; email: gen-enquiry@censtatd.gov.hk).

     Further to the external merchandise trade statistics in value terms for December 2024 released earlier on, the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released today (February 17) the volume and price statistics of external merchandise trade for that month.
 
     In December 2024, the volume of Hong Kong's total exports of goods increased by 2.3%, while the volume of imports of goods decreased by 3.6% over December 2023.
 
     Comparing 2024 with 2023, the volume of Hong Kong's total exports of goods and imports of goods increased by 4.9% and 2.6% respectively.
 
     Comparing the fourth quarter of 2024 with the preceding quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis, the volume of total exports of goods remained virtually unchanged, while the volume of imports of goods decreased by 0.8%.
 
     Changes in volume of external merchandise trade are derived from changes in external merchandise trade value with the effect of price changes discounted.
 
     Comparing December 2024 with December 2023, the prices of total exports of goods and imports of goods increased by 2.7% and 2.3% respectively.
 
     As regards price changes in 2024 over 2023, the prices of total exports of goods and imports of goods increased by 3.6% and 3.2% respectively.
 
     Price changes in external merchandise trade are reflected by changes in unit value indices of external merchandise trade, which are compiled based on average unit values or, for certain commodities, specific price data.
 
     The terms of trade index is derived from the ratio of price index of total exports of goods to that of imports of goods. Compared with the same periods in 2023, the index increased by 0.4% in both December 2024 and 2024 as a whole.
 
     Changes in the unit value and volume of total exports of goods by main destination are shown in Table 1.
 
     Comparing December 2024 with December 2023, increases were recorded for the total export volume to Vietnam (47.9%), the mainland of China (the Mainland) (11.2%) and Taiwan (1.2%). On the other hand, the total export volume to the USA (-18.2%) and India (-31.7%) decreased.
 
     Over the same period of comparison, the total export prices to the USA (3.4%), the Mainland (3.3%), Vietnam (2.5%) and Taiwan (2.3%) increased. On the other hand, the total export prices to India decreased by 3.8%.
 
     Changes in the unit value and volume of imports of goods by main supplier are shown in Table 2.
 
     Comparing December 2024 with December 2023, declines were recorded for the import volume from Korea (-13.8%), the Mainland (-4.6%) and Japan (-0.7%). On the other hand, the import volume from Taiwan (2.4%) and Singapore (8.3%) increased.
 
     Over the same period of comparison, the import prices from all main suppliers increased: Korea (8.6%), Singapore (3.7%), the Mainland (1.8%), Japan (1.2%) and Taiwan (1.2%).
 
Further information
 
     Details of the above statistics are published in the December 2024 issue of "Hong Kong Merchandise Trade Index Numbers". Users can browse and download the report at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/EIndexbySubject.html?pcode=B1020006&scode=230).
 
     Enquiries on merchandise trade indices may be directed to the Trade Analysis Section of the C&SD (Tel: 2582 4918).