Those were the sentiments of 30-year-old Chao as she and about 100 other Hong Kong residents were released after being detained in Shenzhen for 15 days on suspicion of taking drugs.

Others complained of poor treatment, unhygienic conditions and being deprived of basic necessities.

Chao said she was told Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen and his pledge to fight drugs were to blame for her predicament.

The local revelers were arrested along with 300 mainlanders on July 4 in bars and parlors in Shenzhen.

Freedom came for them all yesterday, with those from Hong Kong being dropped off at locations near the border, including Lo Wu.

"A jailer told me we were unlucky as Tsang had pledged to seriously tackle the drug issue," Chao said.

She admitted to having taken ketamine for a few years but did not expect to be detained at Longgang detention center for so long.

"It is not a place for humans."

She claimed detainees were forced to stay in a stuffy room that contained 30 beds, and conversation with other detainees was banned.

"There was only one set of face towels and toothbrushes for every 10 detainees. Each woman was given only one sanitary napkin a day and we had to wear the same clothes for 15 days."

Each person was allowed to shower for only two minutes.

Asked if she will ever return to the mainland to take drugs, Chao replied: "Of course not. I would be scared."

She also claimed to being one of the few to pay a 1,000 yuan (HK$1,134) fine to retrieve her home-return permit from another police station.

Among those also released was a Malaysian in his 50s who said he and his girlfriend only took drugs for fun.

"We were just unlucky to be in the wrong place," he said.

A mainlander named Xiaoxue said her Hong Kong husband was among those detained but he had crossed the Lo Wu border before she could catch up with him.

A Security Bureau narcotics division spokesman denied reports Tsang had asked the Shenzhen authorities to extend the detention of Hong Kong residents.

"When the chief executive met with Shenzhen mayor Wang Rong they discussed many issues but there was no request for an extension in the detention of Hong Kong residents," the spokesman said. Those detainees who need help could contact the Counselling Centre for Psychotropic Substance Abusers.

According to mainland law, the home-return permits of detainees may be revoked for up to three years.