Deadly homemade pipe bomb discovered

Nine "underground radicals" have been arrested in several police swoops since Tuesday after the seizure for the first time of a pipe bomb usually used by radicals overseas.

The suspects were arrested over the past two days after police discovered a powerful homemade pipe bomb in a Mong Kok flat that police said was capable of killing everyone inside a car.

Police also busted an explosives laboratory in a Sheung Shui village house, arresting one person.

Officers intercepted three suspects on Tung Choi Street, Mong Kok, on Tuesday afternoon. They later broke into a partitioned flat in Lee Man Building, where they found a pipe bomb, helmets, Guy Fawkes masks, lighter fuel, alcohol, empty glass bottles, flak vests and a small amount of marijuana.

Six more men aged from 17 to 23 were arrested yesterday in different districts making the total number of arrests related to the two cases to 10.

A suspect in the pipe bomb case surnamed Wong, 21, is a third-year student at City University, another Yu, 22, is a sophomore student at Open University and another man named Wong, 22, is a private tutor.

Beside the two university students, those arrested yesterday included two students, a kindergarten teacher, a coffee barista and two jobless men.

The suspects all belong to a gang of underground radicals who had kept a low profile and never communicated via public channels, said senior superintendent Chan Tin-chu of Police Crime New Territories North Headquarters.

He said more arrests will be made until all members of the gang are caught. Police seized walkie-talkies, helmets, timing devices and other tools that could be used to make explosives from their homes.

Chan said the pipe bomb found on Tuesday was the first ever discovered in Hong Kong, adding that such type of bomb is commonly used by foreign radicals to target their governments or opposing political camps.

Multiple intelligence suggested that the suspects planned to use the bomb against the police, he said.

"The powerful bomb posed a huge threat to public security," he said. "The consequence would be unimaginable if the police did not discover it in time."

Intelligence suggested the bomb - 20cms long and weighing 0.68 kilos - would have been used to attack police officers or facilities.

Police detonated the bomb on site on Tuesday night. Residents living in the lower floors of the building were evacuated as officers from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bureau detonated the bomb, with the site protected by sandbags.

The bomb contained 40 grams of explosives inside a metallic water pipe. It was a completed and well-made product which needed a fuse or friction to explode, Chan said.

He said the bomb was powerful enough to kill everyone if it was thrown into a car.

"I was really shocked seeing the bomb. Although it was detonated under a controlled environment, but still a minor explosion occurred. Even a steel board of a lift was penetrated by a fragment of the bomb, leaving a hole on it," he said.

The bomb fragments will be analyzed to see if whether the case is related to five other seizures of explosives during the unrest, Chan said.

The three suspects - who police believe had joined a protest in Mong Kok on January 1 - were last night still being held on suspicion of participating in an illegal assembly, manufacturing explosives, possession of explosives, weapons and drugs.

Police also smashed a makeshift explosives laboratory in a house in Ho Par Village, Sheung Shui, seizing beakers, test tubes, lighters, a magnetic mixer, copper tubes, thermometers, gas masks, drainage cleaners, sulfuric acid, petrol and some unknown chemical powder.

A mechanical technician surnamed Wong, 29, was arrested in the house. His mother said Wong loves science and used to do experiments at home.

Meanwhile in the Legislative Council yesterday, Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu said Hong Kong is at high risk of having homemade bombs and the authorities should be mindful of potential local terrorism.