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Police have launched a criminal intimidation investigation after the editorial department of a consumer advocacy platform based at the Sing Tao News Corporation Building in Tseung Kwan O received a threatening letter containing unidentified white crystalline powder.
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Staff members at Sing Tao Probe discovered the hostile correspondence, prompting an immediate report to law enforcement and drawing specialized emergency personnel to the media group's headquarters.
Bomb disposal experts respond as editorial team uncovers hostile mail
Upon receiving the alert, police deployed officers from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bureau alongside district criminal investigators to handle the suspicious delivery.
Specialists safely secured the letter and seized the enclosed substances for forensic analysis.
The case has been classified as criminal intimidation and handed over to the district crime squad of the Tseung Kwan O police district.
Officers are actively tracing the origin of the parcel and pursuing the individual responsible for sending it.
Initial inquiries indicated that the correspondence had been sent through ordinary mail, using a folded standard sheet of paper as an envelope.
It was specifically addressed to the editorial department of Sing Tao Probe and bore a Hongkong Post postmark dated September 24.
Sender airs grievances over unpublished complaints and past allegations
When editorial staff opened the package, they discovered a small elongated plastic bag containing white crystalline powder taped securely inside the envelope.
The delivery included a single-page computer-printed sheet written in colloquial Cantonese featuring aggressive and confrontational language.
The sender expressed intense frustration that a consumer grievance submitted approximately one year earlier regarding a local board game parlor had not been published, accusing editorial staff of deliberately protecting the business.
The author also used the letter to air a series of personal grievances, singling out several news organizations for earlier reports that linked him to late-night stalking and clandestine photography targeting women in Wan Tau Tong and shopping arcades.
Toward the end of the letter, the sender escalated into explicit threats, claiming an intention to take matters into his own hands and mete out self-styled justice.
The communication concluded with aliases identifying the sender as Tai Po Eason Chan and Hins Cheung.
Media group condemns intimidation and vows uncompromised reporting
Sing Tao News Corporation issued a firm response following the incident, strongly condemning any attempt to compromise press freedom or endanger the safety of journalistic staff.
The organization reaffirmed that its editorial teams will continue to uphold the principles of objectivity and professionalism, remaining dedicated to serving the public interest and giving voice to the community without yielding to hostile or coercive tactics.
Police investigate pattern of white powder hoaxes targeting prominent bodies
The incident follows a string of similar security alerts across Hong Kong in recent years, during which letters containing suspicious white substances and threatening messages were mailed to government departments, senior officials, judicial officers, and commercial entities.
Previous scares involving letters sent to the Chief Executive's Office and judicial chambers triggered high-level police and firefighting mobilizations before laboratory examinations determined the materials to be harmless household substances such as refined sugar or powdered glass.
A commercial insurance firm also previously received a threatening note falsely claiming to contain anthrax.
Law enforcement authorities emphasized that sending menacing messages and hoax substances constitutes a grave criminal offense that squanders emergency resources and causes unnecessary public alarm, warning that offenders will face vigorous prosecution under the law.
