6 Hong Kong police officers jailed for up to 41 months after framing man for drug possession

Six Hong Kong police officers have been sentenced to up to 41 months in prison for framing a homeless man for drug possession and destroying evidence of the attempted cover-up at a park four years ago.

The District Court on Thursday jailed the four men and two women after finding them guilty of a total of five counts of perverting the course of justice over the incident at Sham Shui Po’s Tung Chau Street Park on February 4, 2020.

The six disgraced officers were among eight involved in two anti-drug operations at the park that year which led to a rise in criminal complaints of misconduct. The park is home to more than 100 street sleepers.

Police sergeant Lam Wah-ka, 47, and officers Mok Chi-shing and Wan Pak-sze, both 29, were found to have fabricated evidence against Le Van Muoi by falsely accusing him of keeping narcotics inside a black plastic box found in his tent.

Security footage showed the suspected drugs were uncovered from a tent occupied by other homeless people and officers had put them inside a black cylinder that did not belong to Le.

Lam, constables Leung Fei-pang, 32, Chan Sau-yip, 31, and Pong Chun-sze, 33, were also convicted for trying to obscure the views of two CCTV cameras during the enforcement action the same day.