When a series of bomb caches were discovered recently at the Shenzhen Bay checkpoint and Lo Wu railway station, few Hong Kong citizens would expect that the culprits could be identified and arrested, as they were completely covered from head to toe in their usual black attire and were operating in darkness.
Therefore, the police should be applauded for successfully smashing this bomb-making syndicate on Sunday after conducting a citywide raid on 22 locations. This resulted in the arrest of 12 men and five women and seizure of three half-made bombs, each with 1.5 kilograms of explosives. It is worth noting that these bombs are very sophisticated devices and capable of being detonated remotely, and they were almost ready to be deployed. Also found were three other devices in another apartment in a commercial building in Tai Kok Tsui, as well as 2.6 metric tons of chemicals used for bomb manufacturing.
One of the bombs allegedly from the syndicate was planted under a seat on a train at the platform of the Lo Wu station on Feb 2. Just imagine the carnage if it had gone off during the rush hour while the train was moving at a great speed. The casualties could have been in the hundreds, if not more, and they are all innocent ordinary citizens. And imagine how many more bombs can be manufactured from the 2.6 tons of chemicals seized!
In view of how lethal the devices uncovered were, and the obvious sophistication of the organization behind them, the government should no longer hesitate to treat them as terrorism cases, thereby alerting the public to the severity of the potential threat posed to our society
Hence, this incident clearly signals a serious escalation in the use of bombs by the radical protesters. During the last nine months of social unrest, police discovered 11 bomb factories and investigated 18 bomb hoaxes. But most of these cases involved a few individuals, whereas the current case appears to be the work of a well-organized syndicate, with members ranging from 21 to 53 years of age, and includes university students. Also, the bombs are located in many places, including three different units in a commercial building.
In view of how lethal the devices uncovered were, and the obvious sophistication of the organization behind them, the government should no longer hesitate to treat them as terrorism cases, thereby alerting the public to the severity of the potential threat posed to our society. There are a few coordinated steps that must be taken.
First, the Legislative Council should urgently conduct an open debate on a motion to condemn such bomb plots in the strongest possible terms. This would put the opposition parties in a quandary and under the spotlight. Were they to vote in support of the public condemnation, they would lose the backing of the young radicals and other militant activists in the upcoming election. But if they were to defend the bomb plotters, they would inevitably antagonize the wider public.
During the police raid on the residence of one of the bomb suspects in Tai Po Kwong Fuk Estate, a very densely populated public housing estate, the police encountered deliberate obstruction from a mob led by Tai Po District Councilor Herman Yiu Kwan-ho. He demanded to be allowed into the suspect’s apartment, and when rightly refused, started shouting outside, seriously disturbing the neighborhood. They even called the Fire Services using a false report of people being trapped in the apartment, causing the firefighters to rush to the scene, and a waste of public resources. When police escorting the arrestee tried to leave the apartment, Yiu’s mob maliciously triggered the fire alarm bell, causing all elevators to come to a standstill, besieging the arresting officers. Here we are talking about serious police action to mitigate a bomb threat to all nearby residents. Yet, as a district councilor, instead of showing concern for the safety of the residents, he chose to protect the bomb plot suspect. His constituents should reflect on his twisted priorities, while the police should consider charging him with obstruction of police work.
While the police operations were going on, reminders were flooding the web, including those originating from Joshua Wong Chi-fung, the notorious anti-government political activist and American politicians’ puppet, urging all bomb plot suspects to destroy all incriminating evidence before any potential police raid. Some even advised the suspects not to answer the door to the police and to delete any incriminating computer and mobile phone data first! These acts clearly constitute criminal obstruction of police work as well as the more serious offense of attempting to pervert the course of justice. Police should follow up on these blatant offenses and bring these people to justice.
Third, the court should now tighten their granting of bail for bomb plot suspects. There have been several cases of defendants charged with very serious bomb-related offenses being granted bail. In some cases, bail was refused at the magistracy level, but somehow on appeal to the High Court, bail was granted. One case that stood out concerns a bomb factory in Sheung Shui in which the suspect was refused bail in the magistracy and he appealed to the High Court. Justice Wong Shun-hau allowed him bail on condition that CCTV surveillance equipment should be installed at his home. Such bail conditions clearly violate common sense, as not only will this breach a person’s right to privacy, it also would unfairly commit substantial police manpower to monitor the subject round-the-clock on CCTV. Even if the suspect were discovered on CCTV trying to abscond, it would be too late for police to stop him! It is, therefore, gratifying to note that another accused person who tried to seek bail under the same conditions was refused by Justice Lee Shu-lan in the High Court. Lee decried the absurdity of such an arrangement and said all lower courts should stop coddling bomb plot suspects with such unrealistic bail conditions. This is what we ordinary citizens would expect from the court. Indeed, I am not aware of one single case in the Western world in which a court would grant bail to bomb plot suspects. Hong Kong judges must stop treating these violent protesters with kid gloves on account of their high-minded pretensions. To do so would only set our otherwise exceptional judiciary up for international ridicule, not to mention putting our innocent citizens at the mercy of these ruthless bomb plotters. In addition, the judicial process should be sped up on outstanding bomb cases so strong sentences can be imposed to deter such violent crime.
This spate of bomb plot cases on top of the continuous street riots and vandalism that police officers are now being burdened with have truly stretched their manpower commitments to a breaking point. Thus, the allocation of an increased budget for the Hong Kong Police Force in the new financial year could not be more timely and appropriate. With this, it will be able to recruit more officers to confront the force’s multifaceted challenges — including more-aggressive violent anti-establishment protesters who are clearly better armed, organized and financed than ever. In fact, the threat posed by the latter is greater than the triad societies, which plagued our society decades earlier. Hence, if it was deemed necessary by the then British administration to set up the anti-triad bureau (since renamed the Organized and Serious Crime Bureau), surely it is more than justified to set up another bureau to tackle this new breed of violent protesters supported by a special intelligence-gathering unit. We may also consider following the British police practice of installing powerful face-recognition CCTV cameras on various strategic locations throughout our city to deter violence and vandalism and facilitate investigation and detection.
Finally, to nip the problem in the bud, it is necessary that we identify the financier(s) of this bomb plot syndicate and its members. For example, who is paying the rent of the three commercial units? An expert financial forensic investigation unit should be set up to trace the financial aid for all these criminal activities, and to find out whether any foreign aid and local politicians were involved. If necessary, a joint police/customs/ICAC task force can be appointed to pool their expertise to reveal the real mastermind!
The author is an honorary fellow and adjunct professor of HKU Space and a council member of the Chinese Society of Hong Kong and Macao Studies. He is also the former head of operations of the ICAC before retiring as deputy commissioner.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
