Hong Kong police arrest 61-year-old man over suspected drink spiking of Japanese DJ Mao Hamasaki

Hong Kong police have arrested a 61-year-old man for allegedly spiking drinks and drugging a Japanese DJ at a Halloween party.

Police said on Tuesday that the suspect was arrested the previous day in Central on suspicion of “administering poison with intent to injure.” He has been detained for investigation.

Mao Hamasaki, a former adult video performer turned DJ, was allegedly drugged in the early hours of Sunday while performing at a Tsim Sha Tsui nightclub, where she was given suspected spiked drinks.

Hamasaki’s manager said on Facebook following the incident that the DJ had tested positive for four different drugs and was placed in intensive care at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. She has since been discharged.

DJ recalls ordeal

Writing in Japanese on X on Monday, Hamasaki said she had regained consciousness and recalled the ordeal, saying the experience made her realise first-hand the “terrifying nature” of drugs and the damage they inflict.

She said she had been performing a DJ set and planned to head to another venue afterwards. “Before the second set, I consumed two shots of what looked like an orange juice-flavoured cocktail,” she wrote.

“I did notice something cloudy settled at the bottom of the shot glasses, but I assumed it was just orange juice pulp. I let my guard down completely,” she said.

She said she began her set about 40 minutes to an hour later. Although she was initially conscious, she recalled that her memory soon became hazy and her eyes felt “extremely dry.”

“Later, while still DJing, I toasted with guests using that same ‘orange juice’ glass. Immediately after that, my body began to go rigid. My arms, legs, and my entire body stopped moving and I have no memory of what happened afterwards,” she said, adding that she was later told she had convulsions.

She described the ordeal as a result of her “carelessness and lack of caution,” adding that doctors told her the situation was “very dangerous.”

After regaining consciousness, she recalled she felt an “extremely overwhelming sense of anxiety” and an “inexplicable suffering.”

She also urged women to remain vigilant with their drinks. “Even though I sensed something was off, I was overconfident and assumed everything would be fine,” she said.

“Please get another drink if you have left them unattended, even for a brief moment. Or, keep your drink with you at all times,” she added.

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Hans Tse is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press with an interest in local politics, academia, and media transformation. He was previously a social science researcher, with writing published in the Social Movement Studies and Social Transformation of Chinese Societies journals. He holds an M.Phil in communication from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Before joining HKFP, he also worked as a freelance reporter for Initium between 2019 and 2021, where he covered the height - and aftermath - of the 2019 protests, as well as the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020.