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Hong Kong police charge six with plotting to set off explosives
Xinhua
2015-06-18
Weapons and other seized items are displayed at a press conference at the police headquarters in Hong Kong on June 15 after explosives were seized in Sai Kung. (Photo/Xinhua)
Five men and one woman are being charged with plotting to set off explosives in a public venue on Tuesday upon further investigation by the Hong Kong police.
The police arrested 10 local residents on Monday, who were allegedly plotting to make bombs days ahead of this week's Legislative Council vote on a universal suffrage package.
The six people who were charged will appear before Kwun Tong Magistrates' Court on June 17. Four of the suspects were released on bail pending further investigations and are required to report back to the police in mid-July.
The police said the investigation is still ongoing. The likelihood of further arrests is not excluded.
In the light of this case and risk assessment, the police have launched an operation code-named "Jointbuilder" on Tuesday. Apart from stepping up patrol in various districts, officers will visit companies selling chemicals or chemical products to conduct investigation and take enforcement action to combat such crime if necessary.
The police also reminded the public that manufacturing or conspiring to manufacture explosives is a very serious offense. According to Section 54 of the Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 200), the maximum penalty upon conviction will be 20 years' imprisonment.
The police found maps marking locations in Wan Chai and Admiralty, two of Hong Kong's commercial districts, and seized several kilograms of suspected solid explosives and five liters of liquid explosives at a "bomb factory" in Sai Kung in the New Territories.
The police also seized at one suspect's home explosives which were confirmed to be ingredients for triacetone triperoxide or TATP, a highly explosive substance that was used in the 2005 London bombings.
The suspects arrive at Kwun Tong Court on Wednesday. Photo: Dickson Lee
Six defendants charged over a bomb plot in Hong Kong yesterday accused police of assaulting them or using threats to get them to cooperate with the investigation.
The five men and one woman, aged 21 to 34, reported the alleged incidents to acting Principal Magistrate Don So Man-lung during their first appearance at Kwun Tong Court.
Rizzy Pennelli, an Italian national born and raised in Hong Kong, suffered repeated blows to various parts of his body and his private parts were "pulled", the man's lawyer, Michael Vidler, said. "A woman police officer hit him with a hard object on the neck," Vidler told the court.
Pennelli suffered bruises and abrasions over his body and face as a result, Vidler said.
Pennelli was in court along with Hongkongers Chan Yiu-shing, Cheng Wai-shing, Wu Kai-fu, Man Ting-lock and the case's sole female defendant, Sarene Chan Cheuk-lam. They face a joint count of "conspiracy to cause an explosion, or making or keeping explosive with intent to endanger life or property" between May 27 and June 14.
The six were accused of unlawfully and maliciously making an explosive substance, with which they conspired to cause an explosion in the city.
In Sarene Chan's complaint against the police, officers allegedly threatened to arrest her husband, a doctor, if she refused to cooperate, defence counsel Christopher Wong Tat-ming said.
READ MORE: Six suspects in alleged Hong Kong bomb plot may face 20 years in jail
The officers warned that the arrest could jeopardise the husband's career, Wong said.
Chan Yiu-shing claimed police had tried to coax an admission out of him by offering to mitigate for him in court.
"At the point of the arrest when [Chan] was handcuffed, he was [also] assaulted by police officers," his counsel told the court.
Man's right to remain silent was allegedly encroached upon, the same counsel said. The court also heard Man had fainted after an encounter with the police but was denied treatment.
Officers told Man that he would have to shoulder the blame for others should he refuse to speak in a video interview, the court heard.
Sarene Chan was granted bail, while the other five were remanded in custody.
She is a master's degree holder and online merchandiser, a court document shows. Cheng is a construction site worker, while Pennelli is an engineering graduate and a technician. The rest are unemployed.
Senior prosecutor Noelle Chit applied for an eight-week adjournment to allow time for forensic examination of more than 10 kinds of chemicals.
The police investigation was ongoing, Chit said, including studying the defendants' electronic devices, which might result in more arrests.
She said the case was expected to go to the High Court.
So said he would grant the prosecution only four more weeks, adding that he did not expect the scope of investigation to be too wide. The magistrate adjourned the case to July 22.
