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HONG KONG – Six secondary school children are among nine Hong Kong residents arrested on terror charges for allegedly trying to manufacture a powerful explosive, said police today.
Five males and four females aged between 15 and 39 were arrested yesterday on suspicion of “conspiracy to use explosives for terrorist activities”, according to the force.
“The operation we conducted yesterday was against gangsters (who) tried to manufacture TATP explosives inside a home-made laboratory inside a hostel,” senior superintendent Steve Li, from the city’s new national security unit, told reporters.
TATP is a high-powered explosive.
Police said the nine people belong to a pro-independence group that calls itself “Returning Valiant”.
Those arrested comprise the six teenagers, and three adults working at a local university, a secondary school, and as a driver.
Li said they were planning to attack public facilities, including a cross-harbour tunnel, the railway network and courtrooms, to “maximise damage to society”.
Anti-government sentiment exploded in 2019 during massive and often violent pro-democracy protests that were stamped out with arrests and a new national security law.
While stability has been widely enforced, Hong Kong remains a deeply polarised city, with many residents still seething under Beijing’s rule.
News of the arrests comes just days after a 50-year-old man took his own life after stabbing a police officer in what authorities said was a “lone wolf” attack.
Police today said they seized various items from the group, including a small amount of explosives, raw materials to produce TATP, air guns, mobile phones, SIM cards, an operating manual on planting bombs, and plans to leave the financial hub.
They also found some HK$90,000 (RM48,130) in cash and froze around HK$600,000 in related bank accounts.
Police have made multiple arrests in the last two years over alleged bomb plots, although no major attack has been carried out successfully.
In April, a 29-year-old man was jailed for 12 years for manufacturing 1kg of TATP. – AFP, July 6, 2021
