Nine people, including six students at secondary school, were arrested yesterday in Hong Kong for allegedly plotting to set off homemade bombs in courts, tunnels and trash cans, as political tensions rise in the territory where China is tightening its grip.
Police said that they were detained on suspicion of engaging in terrorist activity under a National Security Law that Beijing imposed a year ago as part of a crackdown on dissent in the former British colony that has long enjoyed freedoms not seen on the mainland.
Hong Kong authorities have used the law, enacted in response to protests against the government that rocked the territory in 2019, to arrest many prominent democracy advocates. Others have fled abroad as a result.
Photo: AFP
If the allegations are true, the group appears to represent a more radical fringe of the protest movement, which has demanded broader democratic freedoms for Hong Kong just as its liberties are under threat.
Police said that the group was attempting to make the explosive triacetone triperoxide (TATP), which has been widely used in bombings in Europe and elsewhere, in a makeshift laboratory in a hostel.
Police accused the group of planning to use the explosive to bomb courts, cross-harbor tunnels, railways and trash cans on the street “to maximize damage caused to the society.”
Since the 2019 protests, Hong Kong police have arrested several people over alleged bomb plots and for making TATP, including 17 detained that year in overnight raids that also seized explosives and chemicals.
Nine people aged between 15 and 39 were arrested yesterday, Hong Kong National Security Department Senior Superintendent Li Kwai-wah (李桂華) said.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) said at a weekly news conference that she hopes members of the public would “openly condemn threats of violence.”
“They should not be wrongly influenced by the idea that ... breaking the law is in order, if you’re trying to achieve a certain cause,” Lam said. “They should not be influenced into thinking that they can find excuses to inflict violence.”
Authorities said they seized equipment and raw materials used to make TATP, as well as a “trace amount” of the explosive.
They said they also found operating manuals and about HK$80,000 (US$10,300) in cash.
Police froze about HK$600,000 in assets that they say might be linked to the plot.
Authorities said that all nine planned to set off the bombs and then leave Hong Kong for good.
The arrests come as China is increasing its control over Hong Kong, despite a promise to protect the territory’s civil liberties for 50 years after its 1997 handover from Britain.
In the most glaring example of that campaign, police arrested at least seven top editors, executives and journalists of the pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper and froze its assets, forcing it to close two weeks ago.
Lam yesterday also said that an envelope of “white powder” had been sent to her office.
Police said that the substance was still being analyzed, but that they did not believe it to be dangerous.
MISINFORMATION: The generated content tends to adopt China’s official stance, such as ‘Taiwan is currently governed by the Chinese central government,’ the NSB said Five China-developed artificial intelligence (AI) language models exhibit cybersecurity risks and content biases, an inspection conducted by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The five AI tools are: DeepSeek, Doubao (豆包), Yiyan (文心一言), Tongyi (通義千問) and Yuanbao (騰訊元寶), the bureau said, advising people to remain vigilant to protect personal data privacy and corporate business secrets. The NSB said it, in accordance with the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法), has reviewed international cybersecurity reports and intelligence, and coordinated with the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau and the National Police Agency’s Criminal Investigation Bureau to conduct an inspection of China-made AI language
BOOST IN CONFIDENCE: The sale sends a clear message of support for Taiwan and dispels rumors that US President Donald Trump ‘sold out’ the nation, an expert said The US government on Thursday announced a possible sale to Taiwan of fighter jet parts, which was estimated to cost about US$330 million, in a move that an expert said “sends a clear message of support for Taiwan” amid fears that Washington might be wavering in its attitude toward Taipei. It was the first announcement of an arms sale to Taiwan since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House earlier this year. The proposed package includes non-standard components, spare and repair parts, consumables and accessories, as well repair and return support for the F-16, C-130 and Indigenous Defense Fighter aircraft,
CHECKING BOUNDARIES: China wants to disrupt solidarity among democracies and test their red lines, but it is instead pushing nations to become more united, an expert said The US Department of State on Friday expressed deep concern over a Chinese public security agency’s investigation into Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) for “secession.” “China’s actions threaten free speech and erode norms that have underpinned the cross-strait ‘status quo’ for decades,” a US Department of State spokesperson said. The Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau late last month listed Shen as “wanted” and launched an investigation into alleged “secession-related” criminal activities, including his founding of the Kuma Academy, a civil defense organization that prepares people for an invasion by China. The spokesperson said that the US was “deeply concerned” about the bureau investigating Shen
DISPUTE: A Chinese official prompted a formal protest from Tokyo by saying that ‘the dirty head that sticks itself out must be cut off,’ after Takaichi’s Taiwan remarks Four armed China Coast Guard vessels yesterday morning sailed through disputed waters controlled by Japan, amid a diplomatic spat following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments on Taiwan. The four ships sailed around the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) to Taiwan, and which Taiwan and China also claim — on Saturday before entering Japanese waters yesterday and left, the Japan Coast Guard said. The China Coast Guard said in a statement that it carried out a “rights enforcement patrol” through the waters and that it was a lawful operation. As of the end of last month,
RSS