Police today (January 8) appealed to the public for information on a man who went missing in Kowloon City. Yeung Sai-lung, aged 83, went missing after he left an elderly home on Nga Tsin Lo… read more
Following is a question by the Hon Andrew Wan and a written reply by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr James Lau, in the Legislative Council today (January 8): Question: &nb… read more
The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (January 8) that in view of a notification from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) regarding outbreaks of h… read more
Following is a question by the Hon Chan Chi-chuen and a reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr John Lee, in the Legislative Council today (January 8):
Question:
Since June last year, thousands of members of the public have been granted bail by the Police after being arrested during public events, pending the Police’s decisions on whether prosecutions will be instituted against them upon completion of investigations. It is learnt that when reporting to the police stations subsequently, quite a number of them refused to enter into further bail and they were released unconditionally. However, since the Police have so far not informed them whether investigations of the relevant cases have been completed and whether prosecutions will be instituted against them, they and their families are very worried day after day. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of cases, in each of the past six months, of persons refusing to enter into further bail and their being released unconditionally after such refusal;
(2) of the number of persons in the past five years who were released unconditionally after refusing to enter into further bail and, among them, the number of those who were subsequently prosecuted, as well as the average duration between the dates of their unconditional release after refusal to enter into further bail and the dates on which they were prosecuted; and
(3) whether the Police will, upon deciding not to institute any prosecution against the persons released unconditionally after their refusal to enter into further bail, inform them of that decision expeditiously, so as to relieve them of the psychological burden; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
Members of the public enjoy the freedoms of expression, speech and assembly but they must exercise such freedoms peacefully and lawfully. Since early June last year, more than 1 200 protests, processions and public assemblies have been staged in Hong Kong and many of them ended up in serious violent illegal acts. In the past six months or so, there were rioters unlawfully blocking roads, paralysing traffic, hurling petrol bombs and setting fires at various locations, throwing bricks, wantonly assaulting people holding different opinions, wounding with intent, vandalising and burning shops, railway facilities and traffic lights, etc., which severely endangered public order and public safety. Under section 10 of the Police Force Ordinance (PFO) (Cap 232), when illegal acts take place, the Police have a statutory duty to take all lawful actions to deal with them.
Under section 50 of PFO, a police officer has the power to apprehend any person who the officer reasonably believes will be charged with or whom the officer reasonably suspects of being guilty of an offence for which a person may (on a first conviction for that offence) be sentenced to imprisonment. When a police officer makes an arrest, the officer must act according to the law and in an appropriate manner.
When a person is arrested by the Police, the police officer will, as soon as possible, inform the person of the fact that he or she is under arrest, as well as the factual grounds and the reasons for the arrest. The arrestee will be brought before the Duty Officer as soon as possible to confirm the legality of the arrest and custody of the arrestee. The arrestee will then be handed over to an investigation team for investigation. Upon completion of preliminary investigation, the Police will, depending on the circumstances of the case, consider:
(1) charging the arrestee, and detaining the arrestee until he or she is taken to appear before the court, or releasing the arrestee on bail pending his or her appearance before the court. The arrestee will generally not be detained for more than 48 hours;
(2) in case the Police cannot complete the investigation into the case forthwith, releasing the arrestee on bail, and the arrestee shall appear at the police station at a specified time subsequently; or
(3) releasing the arrestee unconditionally.
The legal basis and statutory authority for police bail are set out in section 52 of PFO. According to section 52(1) of PFO, an arrestee whom the Police have decided to prosecute may be released on bail, unless the offence appears to the Police to be of a serious nature, or the Police reasonably consider that the arrestee ought to be detained pending his or her appearance before a magistrate (for instance, the arrestee may abscond, repeat the offence, interfere with witnesses, impede the investigation or attempt to obstruct the course of justice). The arrestee shall normally appear before a magistrate at such time and place as is named in the recognisance. Where the arrestee is detained, he shall be brought to appear before a magistrate as soon as practicable.
In addition, according to section 52(3) of PFO, if the Police consider that the investigation into a case cannot be completed forthwith, the arrestee may be released on bail and shall subsequently appear at the police station at such time as is named in the recognisance. When the arrestee appears at the police station, the Police will, based on the progress of investigation for the case, decide to charge the arrestee, grant further bail or release the arrestee unconditionally. Such bail arrangement is necessary and reasonable because the Police may, on the one hand, maintain contact with arrestees while cases are still under investigation, and on the other carry out further investigations in view of the nature, seriousness and complexity of different cases, such as collecting and handling evidence as well as seeking legal advice, so as to ensure that any decision by the Police to lay charge against any person is made with prudence.
If an arrestee refuses police bail or, having first entered into bail, refuses to be bailed further upon appearing at a police station, and the investigation concerned has not yet been completed, the Police will consider releasing this arrestee. However, releasing the arrestee does not mean that the Police will not charge him or her. If the Police decide to charge the person concerned after conducting investigation, the Police will make an arrest again.
My reply to various parts of the question is as follows:
(1) and (2) From June 9 last year to January 2 this year, the Police had arrested a total of 6 943 persons in major public order events. Various offences were involved, including “taking part in a riot”, “unlawful assembly”, “arson”, “wounding”, “assault occasioning actual bodily harm”, “criminal damage” , “assaulting police officer”, “obstructing a police officer in the execution of the officer’s duty”, “in possession of offensive weapons”, etc. Among the 6 943 arrestees, 1 082 persons already entered into or were in the course of legal proceedings, 338 persons had been released unconditionally, and the cases of 5 523 persons were still under investigation (including those released on bail pending further investigation and those released pending further investigation after refusing to be bailed). The relevant figures with breakdown by month is at Annex. The Police do not maintain other detailed statistics as requested in the question.
(3) The Police will keep the investigation details of individual cases confidential so as not to affect investigation work and collection of evidence, not to mention disclosing the details to the suspects. An arrestee who has entered into police bail shall appear at the police station at a specified time. For an arrestee who has been released pending further investigation after refusing to be bailed, the Police, in accordance with the principle of confidentiality as aforesaid, will not inform the person of the investigation progress of the case concerned. If there is sufficient evidence to prosecute the person for the relevant offence in future, the Police will arrest this person again and charge him or her with the offence.
Thank you, President. read more
Following is a question by the Hon Wong Ting-kwong and a reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr John Lee, in the Legislative Council today (January 8):
Question:
In recent months, the Police seized a large quantity of weapons (including pistols, an AR15 long-range rifle and several hundred bullets), and suspected that some people had planned to use such weapons in public events for causing casualties so as to frame the Police. The Police also seized large quantities of petrol bombs, incendiary bombs, explosives and chemicals which may be used for making weapons. It has been reported that last month some members of a foreign extremist organisation came to Hong Kong to participate in demonstrations. The aforesaid incidents have caused quite a number of members of the public to worry that the law and order situation in Hong Kong is deteriorating. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the lethality of the various types of firearms, as well as the respective quantities of the various types of weapons and chemicals that may be used for making weapons, which were seized by the Police since June last year;
(2) whether the Police have investigated the origins of the firearms and other weapons seized and if there is any connection with foreign terrorist organisations, and of the follow-up actions taken; and
(3) of the authorities’ assessment of the current law and order situation in Hong Kong, as well as their strategies for stopping violence and curbing disorder and for preventing foreign terrorists from engaging in illegal activities in Hong Kong?
Reply:
President,
There have been more than 1 200 public order events since June last year, with many of them ended in violence. The continuous escalation of violence, as well as the increasingly frequent demonstrations and conflicts and their extensive impact, have caused grave threat to people’s lives and properties, resulting in a very worrying situation. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government strongly condemns the escalating violent acts and adopts zero tolerance to any persons who resort to violence for their own purpose. It is the responsibility of the HKSAR Government to stop violence and curb disorder and to restore public peace by taking resolute measures.
My reply to the three parts of Hon Wong’s question is as follows:
(1) and (2) The continuous escalation of violent acts of rioters in just six months or so has caused grave concern. The types of weapons and dangerous goods seized by the Police at different places and premises were of a great variety and were extremely alarming in terms of both destructive power and quantity. Major examples of serious cases are as follows:
(i) On July 20 last year at an industrial unit in Tsuen Wan, the Police found self-produced powerful explosive of TATP, 10 completed incendiary bombs, nitric acid, slingshots, pellets, knives, iron rods, etc. The power of the explosive could cause severe injuries.
(ii) On August 1 last year at an industrial unit in Fo Tan, the Police found a batch of weapons, including two bows, six arrows, petrol bomb and a large quantity of raw materials for making petrol bombs, and seized a considerable amount of essential oils containing cannabis; at a flat in Tin Shui Wai, the Police also seized 30 smoke bombs, 27 half-finished smoke bombs and raw materials for making smoke bombs including potassium nitrate, magnesium, fuses for explosives, etc.
(iii) On November 2 last year at a flat in Wan Chai, the Police seized 59 petrol bombs and nearly 20 litres of inflammable chemicals including turpentine, petrol and ethanol.
(iv) In mid-November and early December last year at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the Police seized a total of about 8 000 petrol bombs, about 800 bottled liquefied petroleum gas, about 1 000 bottles of petrol and nearly 700 bottles of inflammable chemicals (including acetone, acetonitrile, aniline, methanol, dichloromethane, silane, etc.), and about 600 weapons including hammers, arrows, knifes and air pistols.
(v) On December 8 last year at a flat in North Point, the Police seized a 9mm Glock semi-automatic handgun, 105 bullets, five magazines, as well as three items of dagger, sabre and katana. Three of the five magazines seized were fully loaded and ready for use.
(vi) On the same day, in the vicinity of Wah Yan College in Wan Chai, the Police found two radio-controlled improvised explosive devices weighing about 10 kilograms in total. Such devices were found to be composed of aluminium nitrate and hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD), a highly explosive organic compound. Ignition of the devices would pose lethal damage to the surrounding 50-to 100-metre range and lead to collapse of buildings. These devices also contained many sharp nails to create greater lethality.
(vii) On December 14 last year at Siu Lang Shui Road in Tuen Mun, the Police seized a radio control for explosives and about 27 grams of suspected explosive powders, and arrested three men who were allegedly conducting tests on explosives. There were signs of explosion at the scene.
(viii) On December 20 last year at a public place in Tai Po, the Police arrested a man and seized a gun. The suspect fired a shot during the arrest. Fortunately, the incident caused no injury. An AR-15 long-range rifle, 200 bullets and a circular speedloader were subsequently seized at his relevant flat.
(ix) On December 24 last year at a mini-storage in Kwun Tong, the Police seized 500 grams of smoke cake, 15 grams of explosives and dozens of bottled chemicals (including nitrocellulose and sodium chloride).
The Police do not maintain relevant statistics on all the types of weapons and chemicals that may be used for making weapons for articles seized during operations. I must solemnly point out that illegal possession or use of weapons, firearms and ammunition, explosives, dangerous goods and the like constitute very serious crimes in contravention of many criminal offences, the maximum penalty of which is life imprisonment.
The Police will make full investigation into each case to track the source of weapons, firearms, explosives and chemicals seized and the motive for committing crimes. As far, there is no evidence linking the cases to overseas terrorist organisations. Nonetheless, the Government will closely monitor and cautiously examine the cases to identify any possible risk of involving local terrorism.
(3) As for the law and order situation, crime figures in the first half of last year showed a downward trend but since June, there have been many processions and demonstrations and rioters have been wantonly hurling petrol bombs and bricks, setting fires, vandalising and burning shops and public transport facilities, assaulting people with different views, etc., causing deterioration in the law and order situation in Hong Kong. From January to November 2019, 52 250 crimes were recorded, representing an increase of 4.2 per cent over 50 122 crimes recorded during the same period in 2018. The overall crime detection rate in the first 11 months of 2019 was 36.1 per cent, which was lower than the overall crime detection rate of 42.9 per cent during the same period in 2018. In the past six months or so, the Police devoted considerable manpower to handle over 1 200 public order events and the violent acts of rioters. Routine policing work, such as crime prevention and patrols, was unquestionably affected as a result. Maintaining good public order relies not only on police officers’ efforts but also citizens’ abiding by the law. If members of the public turn a blind eye to violent acts of rioters and refuse to co-operate or even obstruct the Police’s law enforcement operations, or condone even further assaulting against police officers, deterioration in public order is the price we have to pay.
The Security Bureau has been co-ordinating the work among disciplined services for making collaborative efforts to stop violence and curb disorder. For example, the Immigration Department exercises effective immigration control to prevent the entry of suspected criminals, terrorists, etc. into Hong Kong. The Customs and Excise Department monitors and checks imported goods to ensure that illegal goods do not enter Hong Kong. The Fire Services Department conducts inspections to ensure that no dangerous or controlled goods are unlawfully sold or possessed in the market. Various disciplined services also fully assist and facilitate the Police’s work in terms of intelligence and support. In addition, the Chief Secretary for Administration personally chairs a high-level Inter-departmental Action Task Force to oversee the work of different bureaux and departments in monitoring, response, follow-up, dissemination of information, etc., with a view to ensuring that all work is well-coordinated and handled in an effective and expeditious manner.
As regards counter-terrorism (CT), in April 2018, the HKSAR Government set up the Inter-departmental Counter Terrorism Unit (ICTU) comprising members from six disciplined services. ICTU is tasked with monitoring the global terrorism trend and CT measures, reviewing and improving CT strategies in Hong Kong, developing CT training, optimising various contingency plans, etc. Apart from fostering closer liaison and smoother collaboration among relevant departments, ICTU can also achieve synergy in various aspects such as CT intelligence, training and emergency response education with a view to enhancing the overall CT deployment and safeguarding the risk of terrorist activities.
Thank you, President. read more