Hong Kong children arrested for terrorism
Nine people, including six secondary school pupils, have been arrested in Hong Kong on suspicion of engaging in terrorist activity, with police claiming to have uncovered an attempt to make explosives and plant bombs across the city.
Nine people, including six secondary school pupils, have been arrested in Hong Kong on suspicion of engaging in terrorist activity, with police claiming to have uncovered an attempt to make explosives and plant bombs across the city.
The group of pupils were attempting to make the explosive triacetone triperoxide (TATP) in a homemade laboratory in a hostel, Hong Kong police said.
They planned to use TATP to bomb courts as well as crossharbour tunnels and railways, and even planned to put some of these explosives in rubbish bins on the street "to maximise damage caused to society", police said.
The nine arrested are five men and four women aged between 15 and 39, said senior superintendent Li Kwaiwah of the Hong Kong Police National Security Department.
Authorities said they seized apparatus and raw materials used to make the TATP, as well as a "trace amount" of the explosive.
Police also froze about 600,000 Hong Kong dollars (£55,000) in assets that they say may be linked to the plot.
The group all planned to leave Hong Kong for good after the sabotage, authorities said.
The arrests come two years after months of massive antigovernment protests rocked the city.
TATP has been used in terrorist attacks worldwide. Since 2019, Hong Kong police have arrested several people over alleged bomb plots and for making TATP.
Shortly before the arrests were announced Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's chief executive, urged parents, teachers and religious leaders to monitor teenagers and report any suspected crimes.
At her weekly press conference, she said government departments shouldn't allow what she called "illegal ideas" to spread through the education system.
She also praised the national security law imposed on the territory by Beijing last year.
"For a long time, citizens have been exposed to wrong ideas, such as achieving justice through illegal means," Ms Lam told reporters.
She also criticised some people for mourning the death of a man who stabbed and wounded a policeman before taking his own life on 1 July.
The incident took place on the anniversary of the former colony's handover from British to Chinese rule and the 100 year anniversary of the founding of China's Communist Party.
In the past, large protests against Beijing's growing influence would be organised on the day of the anniversary.
However, this year's demonstrations were banned and anyone participating faced being charged under the national security law with a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Ms Lam said that an envelope of "white powder" had been sent to her office.
Police said Tuesday that the substance was still being analysed but that they did not believe it to be dangerous.
In December 2019, authorities defused two bombs at a local Catholic school.
A remote-controlled homemade bomb was also detonated near a police car in 2019, when the anti-government protests were ongoing.