Circuit boards for detonators of remote-controlled bombs and other materials were seized by the police at Choi Hoi-ming’s home on Tuesday. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Uncle Kuen, 77, didn’t expect his family to be embroiled in Hong Kong’s months-long social unrest until his 20-year-old son was arrested in connection with two homemade bombs found on a school campus in December last year.
The family of three was shocked when six police officers went to their public housing flat on Tuesday evening as they were having dinner, seized circuit boards associated with detonators for remote-controlled bombs, and took away the son on suspicion of conspiracy to wound with intent.
The family of three was shocked when six police officers went to their public housing flat on Tuesday evening as they were having dinner, seized circuit boards associated with detonators for remote-controlled bombs, and took away the son on suspicion of conspiracy to wound with intent
In an interview with local media on Wednesday, Kuen said his son – Choi Hoi-ming, a mechanics student at the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education – was a well-behaved young man before he joined anti-government protests along with his friends despite his mother’s strong opposition.
“Many Hong Kong youngsters have now been brainwashed,” Kuen said as tears welled in his eyes.
He described the arrest as a bolt from the blue, recalling how his son had won the first prize in a robotic engineering contest in school. The young man was talented in mechanics and computing, he added.
Choi is suspected to have been a member of a gang involved in manufacturing bombs, responsible for designing and distributing electrical circuit boards used to detonate bombs during protests.
Police seized and defused two radio-controlled improvised
bombs containing 10 kilograms of explosives outside Wah Yan College in Wan Chai
on Dec 9 last year.
The bombs were intended to be used against police officers during a protest on Dec 8, and were temporarily stored on the campus after the plot was abandoned.
Kuen said he hadn’t slept for two nights and barely ate anything for two days since Choi’s arrest. The boy’s mother, in her 50s, works as a night-time security guard. She said she’s worn out as a result of the legal proceedings against her son.
“I still don’t think my son is that radical. He’s grown up. Although he did not heed our advice, he had never argued with us over the protests or his political views,” said Kuen, who’s worried about his son’s future.
“I still believe he did not participate in any violence. He’s well-mannered and is too slim to attack others physically.”
Choi was refused bail when he appeared in court on Wednesday, and remanded in custody before the next hearing on July 2. He was also charged with another count of possessing child pornography after police found 150 obscene pictures and seven such videos on his mobile phone.
Late last month, a 20-year-old student of the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong, a 23-year-old student at the Hong Kong Design Institute and an unemployed 23-year-old man were also detained for possessing ammunition and explosives at a deserted stone house.
In the first three months of this year, police uncovered at least four bomb plots in Hong Kong, mostly involving youngsters.
On Monday, a homemade bomb, packed in an envelope addressed to police chief Chris Tang Ping-keung, was sent to his office in Wan Chai. The device was said to have started to emit smoke when officers tried to open it, but was defused without causing any damage.
