A police officer (left) wears a bomb suit during a media tour of the Hong Kong Police Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bureau (EOD) depot in Hong Kong on Dec 6, 2019. (PHILIP FONG / AFP)

Hong Kong police on Wednesday afternoon said there were four cases of homemade bomb attacks and 15 cases of bomb hoax in public places in January, an average of one case every other day. 

The method and frequency of these cases came close to terrorism, warned Steve Li Kwai-wah, senior superintendent of the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau.  

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In a press briefing, Li said the situation is worrisome. The many fake bombs found in public areas have the effect of making people blase. More people could get hurt when a real one is detonated.  

The method and frequency of these bomb cases came close to terrorism, warned Steve Li Kwai-wah, senior superintendent of the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau  

The modus operandi for the recent bomb-related cases is similar to terrorism attacks characterized by making advanced demands online calling for strikes or full closure of the border followed by someone claiming responsibility, also online, after it happened, Li added.   

The police are seriously following up on these cases, Li said. Whatever demands they made were  false propositions, and their actions were a threat to public safety, he stressed.  

The police have arrested six suspects, five men and one woman, for hurling gasoline bombs at the 

Kwai Chung Division Police Station on Jan 29 and setting fires in Mong Kok on Feb 4.  

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One of the arrested suspects who hurled petrol bombs at the police station was only 17 years old. The police searched subdivided apartment where he lived and found 11 more gasoline bombs and materials for making more.