At least 210 people were arrested by police in Hong Kong in the first three quarters of this year on suspicion of violating the National Security Law.

According to China News Agency, the Hong Kong Police Force announced on Thursday (October 20) the public security situation in Hong Kong in the first three quarters of this year. As of the end of September, at least 210 people had been arrested by the police on suspicion of violating Hong Kong's national security law, and more than half of them had been prosecuted. In addition, the anti-terrorism reporting hotline has been in use since June this year. As of the end of September, the hotline had received more than 6,800 messages.

Hong Kong police said the overall crime figure recorded in the first three quarters of this year was 49,927, up 4.4 percent from the same period in 2021, mainly due to an increase of more than 5,000 fraud cases.

According to the figures released by the police, the number of fraud cases increased from 13,920 in the same period last year to 19,444, an increase of 39.7%, and more than 70% were related to online fraud cases. Among them, there were 2,353 "job search fraud cases", an increase of nearly two times, and there were cases of citizens suspected of being lured to South East Asia countries to engage in illegal activities by falling on the Internet to solicit "high-paying jobs". In 2012, there were 1,687 "investment scams", 1,687 "phone scams", and 6,389 "online shopping scams", which recorded an increase of 40% to double respectively. 14,643

In addition, there were 23 homicides in the first three quarters of this year, an increase of five, of which 12 involved violence between families or relatives, and all cases have been solved. There were 1,389 extortion cases, an increase of 243 over the same period last year. The increase was mainly due to "naked chat" extortion cases. There were 891 child abuse cases, an increase of 2.3%. 14,643

As for juveniles arrested for criminal offences, there were 1,913, a decrease of 351. 14,643 In

juvenile cases, 12 boys aged 13 to 14 were arrested by drug offenders for trafficking methamphetamine, cocaine, ketamine and marijuana in the first three quarters; 105 young people aged 12 to 16 participated in illegal debt collection activities including "red oil" through the misdirection and influence of damaged friends; 12 girls aged 12 to 15 were used by prostitution syndicates for quick money.