Posters offering a reward in return for the whereabouts of an alleged former triad boss were stuck up around parts of Hong Kong on Thursday morning.
Kwok Wing-hung, nicknamed “Shanghai Boy,” is allegedly a former leader of the local triad “Wo Shing Wo.” Two photos of Kwok were printed on the flyers with some text.
They read, “If [you] can provide the whereabouts of this person, [you will be] awarded HK$5 million.”
Staff at The Peninsula Hong Kong called the police when CCTV revealed masked men sticking flyers on the walls of the hotel at 3am, local Chinese newspaper Oriental Daily reported.
The flyers were also found stuck up at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, The Salisbury hotel, the Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry Pier, and Shun Tak Centre in Sheung Wan, Apple Daily reported. A police spokesperson said there were 80 flyers at The Salisbury hotel and around 200 flyers near the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and the Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry Pier.
Two contact numbers were printed on the flyers. One of them was the number of The Peninsula Hong Kong. An Apple Daily reporter called the other number and the call was picked up by a woman who claimed to be in Inner Mongolia. The woman said she did not know Kwok.
In February 2012, Kwok was reportedly at a dinner with Leung Chun-ying’s election aides before Leung was elected Chief Executive. Kwok had called a press conference on Tuesday to talk about the dinner, but it was cancelled at the last minute.
Oriental Daily published a front page story on Tuesday reporting that Kwok allegedly blackmailed tycoons into paying to avoid having banners containing scandalous stories about them displayed on streets.
In an anti-triad crackdown in Sham Shui Po on Wednesday, police arrested four people with a background of “Wo Shing Wo” and confiscated illegal drugs and weapons, Ming Pao reported.
