Bomb suspect arrested

A man who allegedly planted a suspected bomb at the roadside of Wing Fok Center in Fan Ling has been arrested and police believe the crime is protest-related.

He was still being detained for questioning as of 9pm last night.

The suspected bomb, 50 centimeters in length and wrapped in aluminum foil, was a mixture of explosive precursors - substances used in the manufacture of explosives, such as potassium nitrate and firecrackers along with gas masks, a police source said, adding the case was protest-related.

Officers from the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau rounded up the man outside Block 6 of Wing Fok Center on Luen Chit Street in Fan Ling at around 2pm yesterday after the suspected bomb was uncovered there. They cordoned off Chit Luen Street and Ma Sik Road for investigation.

Shortly afterward, officers from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bureau and Police Tactical Unit were called to the scene.

At around 6pm, officers brought the suspect, whose head was covered with a black paper bag and handcuffed from behind, to a unit in Block 6 of Wing Fok Center to assist in the police inquiry.

He was then taken to a police vehicle after a 1.5-hour search at the unit.

The police cordon at Chit Luen Street and Ma Sik Road was called off at around 7pm but the pedestrian walkway and cycling track near Wing Fok Center were still blocked.

A police spokeswoman said evacuation in the neighborhood of Wing Fok Center was not necessary.

On May 2 last year, some home-made explosive devices and chemicals were uncovered in a male bathroom in the old Kowloon Bay building of St Joseph's Anglo-Chinese School.

Police said the items contain ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, home-made explosives, pressure cookers, a 10-kilogram mixture of chloroform and cyanide.

The items were found by a 16-year-old boy and his three friends at the premises, who reported to the police due to fear of an explosion.

National Security Department senior superintendent Steve Li Kwai-wah then said it was believed that items found at the building were stolen from the Polytechnic University.

The case had been classified as a bomb case and nobody was injured throughout the incident.

The city has been battered by months of social unrest since June 2019, with protests and attacks sparked by the now-shelved fugitive bill that would permit the transfer of suspects to jurisdictions such as the mainland.

erin.chan@singtaonewscorp.com

michael.shum@singtaonewscorp.com