Manhunt launched for three culprits involved in Hong Kong gambling den knife attack
- Incident on Lockhart Road in Wan Chai at daybreak on Friday left four men injured
- In another knife attack in Tsim Sha Tsui, a taxi was damaged and its driver and passenger were assaulted
A citywide police manhunt for three perpetrators of a knife attack is under way after four men were injured in an illegal gambling den in Hong Kong at daybreak on Friday.
The attack spilled over from the Lockhart Road venue onto the streets of Wan Chai shortly before 6am as the four victims ran for help.
The victims, aged 35 to 51, claimed they were playing arcade machines running fishing games at the gambling establishment in Yick Shing Mansion when three knife-wielding attackers barged into the flat, according to a police source.
Two of the injured ran 400 metres to Tai Yau Plaza on Fleming Road, while the other two escaped to Lockhart Road Municipal Services Building, an officer said.
The attackers, who wore surgical masks and were thought to be about 1.7 metres tall, fled before officers arrived. Police scouted the area, but no arrests were made.
Officers went to the gambling den, but no one answered the door.
“The force broke into the flat, but found no one inside,” the source said, adding that blood stains were found inside and in the public corridor and staircases in the building.
The victims suffered wounds to their heads, hands and legs, and were taken to Ruttonjee Hospital in Wan Chai.
Officers from the anti-triad squad of Hong Kong Island police region are handling the case.
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It was one of two knife attacks in a span of 1½ hours in the city.
The second case happened at around 7.30am when a seven-seater black car intercepted a taxi at the junction of Austin Road and Chatham Road South in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Three masked men jumped out of the car and used weapons to break the front windscreen and windows of the taxi. Two of the attackers were carrying knives and the third man was carrying a hammer, according to police.
“The taxi driver was hit in the head by the hammer and his passenger was attacked with knives,” another police source said.
The attackers fled in their own car, driven by a fourth man before police arrived.
The taxi driver, 59, was bleeding from the head and his passenger – a 23-year-old man – suffered cut wounds in the arm and leg. They were taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
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Anti-triad officers from the Yau Tsim police district are investigating the motive behind the attack. As of 1pm, no arrests had been made.
In 2020, police handled 1,761 reports of triad-related crimes in the city, a 30.2 per cent rise from 1,353 cases in 2019. Reports of wounding rose by 1.8 per cent to 1,049 last year from 1,030 cases the previous year.
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