The fourth episode of the Security Bureau's five-part television series "National Security Files Decoded" aired on Tuesday, examining the "Returning Valiant" case, with police, psychologists and legal experts analysing the group's motives and the severity of their plans.
In 2021, a group of secondary school students formed the radical "Returning Valiant" organisation, promoting "armed uprising" and "violent resistance." They set up street stalls, attempted to steal chemicals from schools and rented a guesthouse as an explosives laboratory, aiming to carry out bomb attacks on public facilities. They also recruited minors as "suicide bombers."
Police clinical psychologist Dr Vince Ho said bomb attacks are premeditated and destructive, chosen for their low cost and high lethality. She cited the "3N model" – Need, Narrative and Network – to explain how individuals can be radicalised without strong pre-existing views.
On May 5, 2021, four members were caught breaking into a secondary school in Tseung Kwan O to steal chemicals. They had also rented a guesthouse in Tsim Sha Tsui as a bomb lab. Police had been monitoring the group and arrested them when they took action.
Senior Bomb Disposal Officer Suriyanto Chin Chiu said TATP is highly dangerous and sensitive, capable of causing significant damage even in small quantities. It has been used in major international attacks including the 2005 London bombings, the 2015 Paris attacks and the 2016 Brussels attacks.
Senior counsel and law professor Grenville Cross said the group's plot to carry out bomb attacks on public facilities was "clearly of an extreme nature" and could only be prosecuted as terrorism.
