Wireless horse-nobblers strike in Hong Kong

HONG KONG POLICE are probing a plot to fix horse races by shooting horses with poisoned darts by remote control, reports the Manchester Grauniad.

The wireless nobblers had installed 12 metal tubes buried in the track at The Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club's Happy Valley racecourse. The tubes, triggered remotely by wireless, could have been used to shoot specific horses at the start of a race in order to fix the result.

A routine track inspection discovered the cylinders and a bomb disposal team pronounced the devices safe. When no ther suspicious devices were discovered, races went ahead as schedule. The club said that the darts could have been fired at all 12 horses on the track at the same time and that they appeared designed "to cause destruction and injury".

Happy Valley is regarded as one of the most secure and highly regulated racetracks in the world. One man who owns a horse that races at the track said, "You might expect this in Sicily or something, but here? This place has cameras everywhere, it's the most secure track in the world." µ

L'Inq
guardian.co.uk