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Bosco Kwok Wai-nok, a 20-year-old air-conditioning technician trainee, was found dead on a hillside near Kwong Tin Estate in Lam Tin on Monday morning. Photo: Felix Wong

Gruesome last details emerge of ‘murdered’ Hong Kong hiker ‘pushed down hill by his friends’

Bosco Kwok Wai-nok was found with cuts and stab wounds to his neck and head following a nighttime trip up Black Hill with three friends, who have been arrested

A young man who was reported missing while scouting for a site to play war games with friends on a Hong Kong hillside over the weekend was lured there, murdered and pushed down a slope, police said on Monday.

Officers arrested three men, aged between 21 and 27, who had been up Black Hill in Lam Tin with the victim in the early hours of Sunday.

Initial investigations indicated a monetary dispute over the purchase of war games equipment had triggered the “premeditated attack” in the early hours of Sunday, a source said.

Bosco Kwok Wai-nok was an avid hiker and a war games enthusiast. Photo: Handout

The body of Bosco Kwok Wai-nok, aged 20, was found about 20 to 30 metres below the Wilson Trail near the top of Black Hill at about 8.30am on Monday, hours after his three friends were arrested.

Chief Inspector Ng Chung-wai of the Kowloon East regional crime unit said the victim had suffered multiple stab and cut wounds to his neck, face and head.

“Initial examination showed he had been dead for more than 24 hours,” he said.

Police were still combing the hillside on Monday for the weapon used in the attack.

Kwok, a trainee air-conditioning technician, was believed to have been lured by the three suspects to Black Hill, also known as Ng Kwai Shan, to scout for and take photos of a suitable site to play war games, according to the source.

The trio, who had known the victim through their common hobby since about a year ago, met him at the Haven of Hope Hospital in Tseung Kwan O shortly after midnight on Sunday, the source said.

Kwok came with a friend but the three suspects made an excuse to separate them and went up the hill with the victim alone.

The friend was later told by the three men that Kwok had left by himself after receiving a call at about 3.30am on Sunday, the source said.

At about 1pm that day, Kwok’s family filed a missing person’s report to police, saying he had still not returned home. Police, the Fire Services Department and Civil Aid Service launched an overnight search with the help of a Government Flying Service helicopter before the body was found.

Another source said the three were arrested after investigations indicated they had made up the story about Kwok leaving the hillside by himself. Police then reclassified the case as murder.

“Initial investigations showed the victim was pushed down the hill after the attack,” Ng said.

The trio were still being held for questioning on Monday night. Officers from the Kowloon East regional crime unit were handling the case.

Police figures show there were eight reports of homicide in the first four months of this year, a 43 per cent drop compared with 14 cases in the same period last year.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Hiker 'lured to hill, murdered and pushed down slope'
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