National security law: students and university employee among 9 arrested over alleged terrorist plot to bomb streets, courts, transport networks
- Police discover makeshift bomb laboratory in a guest house in Tsim Sha Tsui during raid
- Pro-independence group Returning Valiant recruited teens to carry out the attacks and was planning to help them flee, force says
Hong Kong’s national security police have arrested nine people, most of them teenagers, over an alleged terrorist plot by a pro-independence group to bomb courts, tunnels and streets in a series of attacks in the coming week.
Alarming details of the case were revealed on Tuesday by the force’s National Security Department while the city’s leader warned of hidden threats in the community and vowed to tackle them with more legislation and law enforcement.
Police said they had carried out a series of raids the day before and broken up a well-organised group in the final stages of preparing the attacks.
“Our investigation revealed that the gang planned to launch a series of bomb attacks before mid-July,” a source said.
The suspects included six students – four boys and two girls aged between 15 and 18 – and a staff member at Baptist University. Police were also hunting for others suspected of funding the plot.