A rarely seen traditional triad initiation ritual was raided by police yesterday, who caught four men in the middle of the ceremony in a wooden hut under a bridge in Sham Shui Po, according to reports.
According to AM730, the antiquated ritual was underway when police arrived at the hut under the bridge on Tung Chau Street about 9am, with officers finding some of the men kneeling and answering questions.
Photos published by the outlet show the site of the rites, which included makeshift polystyrene altar covered with red paper, joss sticks, wine, a meat clever, and yellow papers.
Li Kwai-wah of the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau said such rituals were uncommon nowadays as triad societies in recent years had switched to more simplified verbal pledges.
“I have been dealing with anti-triad for over 10 years. But I never, I never ever saw this one,” he said, according to RTHK.
He said police recovered a booklet detailing how to perform the complicated rites.
Arrested were three local men — aged 43, 47 and 62, as well as a 45-year-old Vietnamese asylum seeker.
AM730 reported the eldest man was believed to be hosting the ceremony, two of the suspected initiates were thought to have been switching from another triad group, and the Vietnamese man was a new recruit.
The four were detained for attending a meeting of a triad society, reported the SCMP, which wrote the group involved was believed to be the Wo Shing Wo triad.
The 57-year-old man was also arrested for being an office bearer of a triad society.
The newspaper said police believed the case involved a triad that was targeting asylum seekers from South Asia in the area for recruitment, and were investigating whether the group was using traditional ceremonies as a way to draw new members.
