Five arrested in Hong Kong for ties to group ‘planning attacks’

Beijing, Jul 12 (EFE).- The Hong Kong Police arrested five suspects Monday for their alleged relationship with nine people arrested Jul. 5 for “making bombs in a hotel” and “planning terrorist attacks in public spaces,” police told public broadcaster RTHK.

Those arrested (four men and one woman) have not yet been formally charged and are in different police stations, according to the newspaper.

The arrests, carried out by the National Security division, took place in different districts of the city.

The police arrested nine people Monday, including six secondary school students, who formed an “organized group” and had booked a hotel room as a “laboratory to manufacture explosives,” according to Li Guihua, superintendent of National Security division.

Li said the detainees had planned to attack the city earlier this month and flee the territory.

The arrests came under the National Security Law that Beijing introduced in the autonomous city and which has been criticized by Hong Kong pro-democracy sectors.

The law carries penalties of up to life imprisonment for cases of secession, subversion, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces. EFE

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