Japanese DJ Mao Hamasaki, who performs as DJ Mao, was admitted to intensive care after becoming unwell following a drink at a venue in Tsim Sha Tsui in the early hours of Sunday, 1 November, according to her manager and local media reports.
Hong Kong police said a male DJ contacted them at 4.57am to report that his 33-year-old female colleague had felt unwell after drinking a beverage at a venue on Mody Road. He suspected that an unknown substance had been added to it, HK01 reported.
Police classified the case as administering poison with intent to injure and referred it to the Yau Tsim district criminal investigation team. HK01 reported that no one had been arrested at the time of its report.
Hamasaki, a former adult film actress, had completed a DJ engagement in Wan Chai before going to a private venue in Tsim Sha Tsui, her manager told HK01. The manager said she became unwell after drinking a sweet-tasting beverage while playing a game there.
Her manager subsequently said preliminary tests had shown reactions to four drugs and that Hamasaki was being observed in intensive care. The South China Morning Post also reported the manager’s account of the test results and her admission to intensive care.
In an update on the afternoon of 1 November, her manager told HK01 that Hamasaki was conscious but remained in intensive care for observation.
Hamasaki wrote on social media that she had been drugged while working. The circumstances remain under investigation; the available reports do not establish who, if anyone, put a substance in her drink.
Archive photograph from 2017 by 찌노메라, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
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