Nine arrested for plan to plant bombs around Hong Kong

Police have foiled a terrorist plot of setting off bombs at public facilities, arresting nine people including six secondary students and two financers -- a university management-level employee and a secondary school teacher.

They seized triacetone triperoxide (TATP) – an unstable explosive – in a Tsim Sha Tsui hostel room police described as a laboratory for bomb-making to be deployed this or next week at cross-harbor tunnels, railways, courtrooms and random rubbish bins on the streets.

The group also planned to use car bombs in an attempt to create casualties among the general public.

The suspects were five males and four females from 15 to 39 years old, all of whom were from pro-independence group Returning Valiant.

They were arrested for organizing terrorist activities causing or intended to cause grave harm to society under Article 24 of the National Security Law.

Some HK$600,000 assets have been frozen, in addition to HK$80,000 cash, foreign currency cash worth HK$10,000, phone cards, TATP-making equipment, TATP explosives, chemicals, telecommunication tools, air guns and action plans seized at the hostel room in Golden Crown Court, 68 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui.

Police national security department senior superintendent Steve Li Kwai-wah said six of the suspects were students from different secondary schools while the remaining reported themselves as a university management staffer, a secondary school teacher and a driver on online taxi platforms.

“All I can say is that the arrest covered financers. We are still tracing if there are other financers on the loose. Judging from our analysis, we think there could be other financers supporting this group,” he said.

It is understood that the university staffer and secondary school teacher financed the secondary students in the planning and making of bombs attacks.

Sources said the university staffer is a non-teaching management officer from Hong Kong Baptist University, which said it has no information to provide, given police investigation is still going on.

Li said there were clear division of work among the arrested, with some funding the plot, some sent to inspect two courts to take photos for preparation, while another team to buy chemicals for making home-made bombs.

He said the group targeted secondary school students who wish to leave Hong Kong during recruitment, as it promised to pay them and arrange for them to leave Hong Kong right after committing the crimes.

He said the attack has entered “the final stage of implementation,” with detailed action plans for each step, including where to place the bombs and escape routes.

“Setting up a home-made bomb laboratory in the middle of the city is very crazy. I think everyone will agree with what I said. It's also extremely irresponsible,” Li said.

He called for retailers of chemical ingredients to heighten alertness for suspicious purchases of bomb materials, adding parents should also pay more attention to their children and prevent them from being lured into criminal activities, or even terrorist attacks.

Police senior bomb disposal officer Alick Mcwhirter said the chemicals and equipment in the laboratory can be used to create TATP explosives, which he described to be powerful, dangerous and unstable.

Li said the pro-independence group started to become active early this year and has been recruiting members and advocating independence ideas through street stalls and social media platforms.

But he believed the arrest have uprooted the organization.

In May, police arrested seven people for breaking into Po Leung Kuk Laws Foundation College in Tseung Kwan O.

Of them, five including members of Returning Valiant were also arrested for subversion under the national security law.

But Li today did not explain whether the bomb attack was related to the burglary.

According to Returning Valiant's Facebook page, the group was established after the enactment of the national security law on June 30 last year, with an aim to help protesters facing financial difficulties.

Police today also revealed the latest investigation results on 50-year-old Leung Kin-fai who knifed himself after stabbing a policeman in Causeway Bay on the 24th handover anniversary last Thursday.

Autopsy found a three-centimeter knife injury in Leung's chest, which pierced his heart muscle and caused his death.

Police have also searched his home in San Po Kong and found news clippings, many of which contained inciting content. Leung had also written in his suicidal note that he would kill himself after attacking a policeman.