Judge convicts Hong Kong student who brought explosives to school to ‘show off’ to friends

Lai Man-kwong, 20, found guilty of possessing explosives for keeping a total of 0.34g of triacetone triperoxide on school grounds in 2019

Judge dismisses claim Lai kept the explosives for experimentation as ‘a pack of lies and nonsense’

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A student was carrying explosives in Caritas Ma On Shan Secondary School. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 8:19pm, 14 Sep 2021Updated: 11:49pm, 14 Sep 2021

A Hong Kong student who brought explosives to school to “show off” to his friends was convicted on Tuesday, after a judge dismissed his claim that he planned to use the dangerous items for conducting experiments.

Lai Man-kwong was found guilty at the District Court of two counts of possessing explosives for keeping 0.34 grams of triacetone triperoxide (TATP) wrapped in two pieces of tin foil at Caritas Ma On Shan Secondary School on November 27, 2019.

The 20-year-old was further convicted of unlicensed possession of ammunition over a golden blank cartridge found in his wallet, as his defence that he kept it for decoration failed to convince the judge.

Co-defendant Zhao Yuk, 18, was acquitted of explosives possession after the judge accepted Lai had forced one of the tin foil wraps on him that day.

Lai, who was in Form Six at the time of the offence, claimed during the trial a man in a black shirt had given him the TATP in powder form at a convenience store near Mong Kok Police Station, which was frequently targeted by anti-government protesters during the social unrest in 2019.

He said he did not know why the stranger gave him the explosives, but felt he had “hit the jackpot” and wanted to brag about the unexpected find in front of his friends.

As for the blank cartridge, Lai said he picked it up on the ground when he walked past Sham Shui Po district in the summer of 2019 and intended to keep it as an ornament and occasionally show off to his friends.