Narcotics Offenses Rise in Hong Kong

Drug offenses soared in Hong Kong last year as Southeast Asia produced a bumper opium crop, a government report said Friday.

The report by a government anti-narcotics committee said 12,432 people were prosecuted for drug-related offenses last year, an 11% rise over 1984.

It said the Golden Triangle on the borders of Thailand, Laos and Burma had a bumper opium harvest in 1985 for the fifth successive year, leading to an abundant supply of narcotics in the British colony. No crop figures were given.