KMB bus-needle suspect ‘angry over service’
The man suspected of being responsible for at least three cases of planting needles in the seats of Kowloon Motor Bus vehicles said he did it out of anger over buses not stopping for him, police revealed on Thursday.
The jobless 30-year-old, who has been arrested, told police buses often just drove past him at stops where he was waiting, initial investigations revealed.
Assistant Sha Tin District Commander Chan Yan said police arrested the suspect on Wednesday night. They confirmed he was a suspect in three incidents involving concealed needles on June 27 and 28. These resulted in three passengers being injured.
Police found seven sewing needles at the suspect’s Tsing Yi apartment; three were the same type of needle as those found in the three incidents, Chan noted.
Since last week, 10 cases occurred in which needles were put into KMB bus seats; at least eight different bus routes were involved — 48X, 41A, 81, 17, 59M, 46, 235M and 298E.
Chan revealed that three types of needle were found in the nine cases — sewing nee- dles in five, acupuncture needles in three and a pin in the remaining one.
The suspect did not have specific targets, Chan explained. As the incidents posed a threat to public safety and sparked panic in the community, Chan warned citizens not to imitate such behavior and violate the law.
Police have not ruled more suspects being arrested in future in connection with these incidents, Chan noted.
He reminded passengers to be more cautious and vigilant about suspicious people when using buses.
The KMB strongly condemned such acts. After these incidents were first reported, it began requiring frontline staff to carefully inspect buses before picking up passengers. However, needles were still found after this.