Last year, Zhou Quan and the Security Department had focused mainly on security for Hong Kong Island's return.
Even when other cases drew his and the Security Department's attention, they were serious incidents affecting all of Hong Kong Island.
As such, Zhou Quan had received no information at all about criminal cases such as last year's arson at the Tuen Mun dye factory and the murders at the Tsim Sha Tsui hotel.
For the Security Department, criminal cases like these could hardly have been smaller.
If even these required Zhou Quan and the Security Department to take responsibility, what purpose would the Major Crimes Units and Anti-Triad Units in the various Police Districts serve?
Luo Danian and his Intelligence Group had only paid attention to these cases because they involved Painter's international counterfeiting syndicate.
Counterfeit Banknotes certainly posed a serious threat, and Painter's gang was a priority target for law enforcement agencies around the world.
However, Painter's gang had barely been involved in activities within Hong Kong Island.
The only time they had operated within Hong Kong Island, it had merely involved a small amount of counterfeit currency entering circulation.
Most importantly, internal strife had broken out in Painter's gang immediately afterward.
In criminal cases such as the Tuen Mun dye factory arson and the Tsim Sha Tsui hotel murders, almost all its members had been wiped out.
Thus, before the Security Department even had a chance to become involved, the cases concerning the Painter Group had largely ceased to pose a threat.
According to the Police Force's current files, Painter, the central figure in the gang, had disappeared, while Lee Man, the expert who produced the counterfeit printing plates, had been arrested in Thailand.
A week earlier, after the Police Force entered its new era, the Headquarters Division of