Police are continuing to investigate the possible poisoning deaths of two
Americans at the Grand Hyatt hotel, also in the red-light Wan Chai district,
over a week ago. Reports said the two men, identified only as Paul, 45, and
Richard, 51, had been to a night club before returning to their room with two
women.
The men's slumped bodies were discovered the next day by cleaning staff.
Police have yet to say what caused the men's deaths, although they have not
ruled out that they were drugged. The Standard newspaper reported that a
mixture of cocaine and heroin was found in their blood, but police have refused
to comment, saying toxicology tests were continuing.
A Filipino women arrested shortly after the bodies were found has been
released, but will appear in court on charges of violating her visa by
moonlighting as a prostitute, a police spokesman said.
Police said Sunday that at least 44 men had reported incidents of drugging and
robbery over the last three years in Wan Chai, where many nightclubs are easy
places to meet Filipino, Indonesian and mainland Chinese prostitutes.
Some victims couldn't remember much and only made reports days or weeks after
the event when they received their bank statements and found unexplained
withdrawals from cash machines, a police spokeswoman said.
Other victims discovered cash and other valuables missing when they awoke in
their hotel room, she said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with
policy.
Police were aware of the problem and of the possibility that some type of
date-rape drug may have been used, she said.
She said police were giving crime prevention advice to bars and hotels in the
area and working with the immigration department.
In one of the most high-profile cases, a senior Finnish policeman, Kari Juhani
Koivuniemi, died of a heart attack in a luxury hotel after being given the drug
Rohypnol in 2003. A woman thought to have been a mainland Chinese prostitute
was suspected of giving him the drug, but she was never found.
Wan Chai was once one of Hong Kong's most notorious districts for sex and
drugs, but has undergone a makeover in recent years. It remains a popular place
for U.S. sailors, tourists and overseas businessmen.
Although prostitution is legal in Hong Kong, many of the women are either
illegal immigrants from mainland China, the Philippines, Indonesia and
Thailand, or moonlighting from their day jobs.
