Police in Hong Kong were Tuesday questioning 27 suspects after smashing a triad gang operation that recruited young members in school playgrounds, dpa reported.
The arrests came after dozens of cases in which youngsters were approached in playgrounds in Hong Kong schools and threatened with violence if they did not join triad gangs.
Youngsters acted as recruiters and teenagers signed up for gangs in school playgrounds and games arcades were made to pay 3.60 Hong Kong dollars (46 US cents) as a joining fee.
Around 70 per cent of the 27 people arrested were youngsters and one was just 14, police said. They were arrested for suspected triad gang membership, a criminal offence in the city of 6.9 million.
More than 100 police officers raided dozens of flats across Hong Kong to make the arrests from early Monday onwards. They also seized beef knives, water pipes and illegal drugs.
Triad gangs are secret societies notorious for running extortion, drugs and prostitution rackets in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and overseas Chinese communities.
They are reckoned to be responsible for 3 per cent of all crime in Hong Kong but have increasingly resorted to recruiting in schools and amusement arcades as membership has dipped.