Hong Kong authorities have arrested three people on drug-related charges after a 14-year-old boy was found dead in a Tsim Sha Tsui hostel on Saturday morning. Police said they did not rule out an overdose as the possible cause of death.
The three include a 15-year-old boy and a 56-year-old man, both of whom were with the deceased before his death. The father of the 15-year-old was apprehended in the early hours of Monday.
The deceased, who was Ukrainian, entered a hostel in Chungking Mansions with the 15-year-old at around 3 a.m. on Saturday, police said. They joined the older man who was already in the hostel room.
At around 6 a.m., the 15-year-old left the hostel alone. Police received a call at 9:40 a.m. from the manager of the guesthouse, local media reported. According to HK01, the man had believed the teenager was asleep and only alerted the guesthouse’s manager when he realised he was unresponsive.
The manager told the local media outlet that the man, a Bahamian asylum seeker, had been staying at the guesthouse for around seven months. The teenager did not live there.
“We found items suspected to be used for drug taking in the room,” acting senior superintendent Alan Chung of the Kowloon West regional crime unit said during a press conference on Monday.
HK$700,000 worth of drugs seized
Police arrested the 15-year-old boy at his Ngau Tau Kok home on Saturday evening, where they found 720 grams of suspected cocaine.
The drugs were said to have a street value of around HK$700,000, Chung said.
According to HK01, the 15-year-old and the 56-year-old man both have a criminal history.
Chung said the two of them, together with the deceased, were suspected to have been taking drugs in the guesthouse.
The 15-year-old and his father were arrested on suspicion of trafficking in dangerous drugs, while the 56-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of ill-treatment or neglect by those in charge of child or young person and allowing a premises to be used for selling or using drugs.
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