Hong Kong customs bans model of laser pointer after tests find device is unsafe
- Gadget is a favourite tool of anti-government demonstrators but Customs and Excise Department says testing launched months before start of protests
- Tests find model is not equipped with safety control device required under regulations
Hong Kong customs has banned the sale of a model of laser pointer, a handheld tool often used by demonstrators to flash at police in street protests, after tests found the device was unsafe.
“Our test-buy operation was conducted in March. It was only a coincidence that we finished the testing and took action recently. The customs operation is not related to the recent protests,” a spokesman said.
Officers bought a laser pointer from a retailer in Sham Shui Po in March for testing during a regular product safety check operation, after finding the model did not carry bilingual warnings or cautions in specified places as required by goods safety regulations.
The retailer was asked not to sell its other 13 laser pointers of the same model and to store them while the test was being conducted.
Subsequent test results showed the mainland China-made product was not equipped with the safety control device required under the relevant safety standard. The model was not named.
Sham Shui Po stall owners see brisk trade in laser pointers
The laser pointer was also not marked with a warning in Chinese, only in English.
“Customs officers then conducted an operation [on August 23] and seized those 13 laser pointers from the retailer, who was also prohibited to continue selling the model,” a department spokeswoman said. No arrest was made.
While the gadgets are not prohibited, police said that under Hong Kong law the pointers can be deemed “weapons” if they are used in or intended for use in an attack.
Customs warned users “to avoid eye contact with the light dots emitted by such a laser pointer under any circumstances as the beam emitted … can pose eye and skin injuries to users”.
Fong said he would use the pointers for stargazing, but police described them as “laser guns” whose beams could “flash blind” someone and also cause serious eye injuries. He was released unconditionally two days later.
