Former Hong Kong saleswoman pleads guilty to charges over roles in thwarted 2019 bomb plot, failed attempt to flee to Taiwan by boat

Quinn Moon, 37, had kept a pipe bomb in her rented flat and tried to make smoke grenades with tennis balls

Mainland authorities arrested her along with 11 others four years ago when they tried to flee the city to Taiwan by boat

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Quinn Moon (hooded) is escorted by officers to Tin Shui Wai Police Station. She is among a group of 12 Hongkongers who were arrested by mainland Chinese authorities while trying to flee to Taiwan by boat in 2020. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 9:00pm, 11 Jan 2024Updated: 8:59am, 12 Jan 2024

A former telephone saleswoman in Hong Kong pleaded guilty on Thursday to three charges over her roles in a thwarted bomb plot during the 2019 anti-government protests and a failed attempt to flee to Taiwan by boat.

Quinn Moon, 37, had kept a pipe bomb in her rented flat and tried to make smoke grenades with tennis balls before evading criminal sanctions alongside 11 others four years ago, the District Court heard.

The defendant must have intended for the explosives to be used either by herself or others during the social unrest, Judge Stanley Chan Kwong-chi said after convicting her.

Protesters in Hong Kong react to tear gas following scuffles with police in 2019. Photo: Sam Tsang

The large quantity of protest paraphernalia seized from her home indicated her staunch support provided to “rioters” to stage “illegal protests”, the judge added.

Chan also pressed the prosecution for details about the 12 fugitives’ boat escape and suggested that a previous ruling by a separate judge to sentence seven of them to 10 months’ imprisonment each was too lenient.

The 12 Hongkongers made headlines after they were caught in mainland Chinese waters while en route to the self-ruled island via speedboat on August 23, 2020.

A closed-door trial at a Shenzhen court ended with Quinn receiving two years in jail for organising the illegal trip. She was handed over to the city’s police by mainland authorities in August 2022 and has remained behind bars since.