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Hong Kong police defuse powerful pipe bomb in flat and arrest three men, including two with ‘links to radical protest group’

  • Two suspects, tertiary students aged 21 and 22, arrested in Mong Kok and police believe they have links to a radical anti-government protest group
  • Third man, a 29-year-old electrician, detained in Sheung Shui in what police called a makeshift laboratory where bombs were being made

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The flat is in a building on Tung Choi Street in Mong Kok. Photo: Facebook

Bomb disposal officers in Hong Kong defused a pipe bomb in a subdivided flat in Mong Kok and arrested three men in connection with the case on Tuesday night.

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Two of the suspects, tertiary students aged 21 and 22, were arrested in Mong Kok and police believe they have links to a radical anti-government protest group.

The third man, a 29-year-old electrician, was detained in Sheung Shui in what police called a makeshift laboratory where bombs were being made.

“The pipe bomb was very powerful and a small explosion occurred while it was being defused. The shrapnel punched a hole in one of the lifts in the flat,” Senior Superintendent Chan Tin-chu said at a briefing at the scene.

Nearby residents were evacuated as the drama unfolded in Mong Kok. Photo: Facebook
Nearby residents were evacuated as the drama unfolded in Mong Kok. Photo: Facebook
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He said the bomb was ready to be used and powerful enough to kill if it had been thrown into a car.

Police said they stopped three men as they were leaving the Lee Man Building on Tung Choi Street on Tuesday afternoon. Officers brought them back to the flat and found “protest-related materials” and the pipe bomb.

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