A suspicious item found on the side of the railway tracks at Tai Po Market MTR station turned out to be an empty shoebox wrapped in duct tape. Photo: Handout
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https://scmp.com/news/hong-kong/transport/article/3049080/hong-kong-bomb-scare-sees-mtr-station-closed-during Transport
Hong Kong radicals close to committing ‘acts of terrorism’, says police chief after bomb scare sees railway station evacuated
- Suspicious package found near Tai Po Market station proves to be empty shoebox wrapped with duct tape
- Senior Superintendent Steve Li expresses concern over escalating bombing campaign
Police officers gather on a platform at Tai Po Market MTR station after a suspicious package was found nearby. Photo: Facebook
Hong Kong police have said radical protesters are coming close to committing “acts of terrorism”, after a bomb scare forced the evacuation of a railway station and disrupted train services on Wednesday.
Senior Superintendent Steve Li Kwai-wah of Organised and Triad Bureau said attacks using home-made devices were part of an escalated bombing campaign, with anti-government radicals targeting police stations, public housing estates, transport facilities, control points, and hospitals, and posed a danger to the public in such crowded places.
“They usually make their demands online, but we thought their requests were fake, to vent anger unreasonably, and it was very close to acts of terrorism,” he said.
According to police, radicals posted online messages to reveal their possible targets, outlined their reasons for an attack, and looked to incite others to take action. After an attack they admitted their act on the same social media platform.
Wednesday’s incident saw Tai Po Market MTR station evacuated, and services on the East Rail line partially suspended after a suspicious package was discovered next to the tracks near the station.
Officers from the bomb squad were called out, but the item, which was a shoebox wrapped with duct tape, proved to be empty.
Li said it was quite “alarming” because the number of attacks had increased dramatically. Police handled four bomb cases and 15 reports of bomb threats last month.
He believed some of people who were unable to make bombs, made bomb threats to create public fear.
“Most of them [radicals] like to use places such as hotels, hostels and rental flats to make bombs,” he said, adding that those involved typically picked places near the areas they wanted to attack.
At about 2am on Wednesday, police arrested three men and one woman, aged from 16 to 26, and seized 10 bottles containing some flammable solution along with weapons such as hammers in a raid on a hotel room in Yau Ma Tei.
The raid followed the arrest of a 23-year-old man who was among five masked people who blocked roads and threw petrol bombs at a road junction in the district at about 10.30pm on Tuesday.
Separately, police arrested a 17-year-old man and seized 11 petrol bombs in a Kwai Chung factory unit about 11pm on Tuesday. He was arrested in connection with the firebombing outside Kwai Chung Police Station last week.
Police believe Wednesday morning’s bomb hoax was designed to cause public panic, and they would not rule out a link with recent bombings and arson over the government’s failure to close the city’s border, and supply protective gear, in response to the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
Bomb disposal officers later blew up the object in a controlled explosion and confirmed it was a fake, according to acting superintendent Kwok Yat-leung.
“But extreme radicals have previously warned about putting bombs at important public facilities, and this box was wrapped very nicely with duct tape, so we have reasons to believe that someone created this object, which looks like a bomb, to cause public fear,” he said.
Kwok noted that on Sunday, two explosive devices were found on a train for the first time, and one of those devices went off – without causing injury.
In the past week, police also received a number of reports about arson, and the discovery of suspicious or explosive items.
“These are serious crimes. Arson and illegal or malicious detonation of bombs can be punished by life behind bars … Staging a bomb hoax can also be punishable by up to five years in prison,” he said.
The bomb threat followed two arson cases in Lai Chi Kok on Tuesday night. In one of the incidents, there was a blast that wrecked the toilet bowl when a lot of charcoal was set alight in the toilet for the disabled near Lai Chi Kok public library at 10.48pm. No one was hurt.
On Sunday, two home-made explosive devices were found on board a train at Lo Wu MTR station, near the border with mainland China, disrupting rail services for hours.
One of the devices caught fire and emitted white smoke when the devices were removed from the train and left on the platform. Again, no one was hurt.
Last Wednesday, petrol bombs were thrown at four police stations and a patrol car within 24 hours in a wave of action over the government’s failure to close the city’s border and supply protective gear in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
A police source said it seemed to be the “twisted logic” used by radical protesters to continue their fight against the government.
Last Monday, a home-made bomb went off in a men’s toilet cubicle at the Caritas Medical Centre in Cheung Sha Wan at 2.30am.
At about 10.30am on Tuesday, an improvised explosive device was discovered in a rubbish bin at the Shenzhen Bay Control Point. It was found about 12 hours after a public toilet in King George V Memorial Park in Jordan was set ablaze by an improvised incendiary device.
A message on Telegram said the Cheung Sha Wan attack was “just warning” and “there will be more real bombs to come”, as closing all Hong Kong’s borders with the mainland was the only way to prevent the coronavirus outbreak from worsening in the city.