Hong Kong police arrest 9 in alleged bomb plot

Hong Kong police said Monday they have arrested nine people and seized materials for making explosives at a suburban former TV studio.

Police arrested five men and four women for alleged conspiracy to manufacture explosives, said Chief Superintendent Au Chin-sau of the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau.

Au told a news briefing that some were members of a local radical group, but did not give an exact number or identify the group.

Police said officers found "several kilograms" of a solid substance and five liters of a liquid believed to be used to make explosives at the studio. They also found about two liters of a raw material used to make triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, at one of the suspect's homes.

TATP is a high explosive that was used in the 2005 London bombings that killed 52 commuters.

The arrests come as tensions rise ahead of a vote later this week by Hong Kong lawmakers on Beijing-backed election reforms that sparked huge street protests last year. Pro-democracy protesters are rallying each evening this week outside of government headquarters to demand lawmakers veto the proposal, which they say doesn't offer genuine democracy and violates China's promise to eventually allow universal suffrage.

Posts on social media were quick to question the timing of the raids, details of which were leaked to Hong Kong media. When asked to name the group and detail the aims of the conspiracy, Superintendent Au Chin-chau said police were looking at all lines of inquiry.

Police said they also seized air rifles, a formula to make smoke grenades, and masks bearing the likeness of Guy Fawkes, who was behind a failed 1605 plot to blow up Britain's Parliament. The masks were popularized by the movie "V for Vendetta."

Police also found maps of the Wan Chai and Admiralty neighborhoods, the latter home to the city legislature and government headquarter complex but also the People's Liberation Army's main base and numerous luxury hotels and office towers.

"There is a possibility that this group of people may want to do something in those particular locations," Au said, but would not be more specific.

The former British colony, which returned to China in 1997, is gearing up for a contentious vote on how to choose its next leader in 2017. China's Communist Party rulers have proposed a direct vote, but only pre-screened, pro-Beijing candidates will be allowed to stand. Protesters say the proposal makes a sham of universal suffrage, which had been promised as an eventual goal.

A weekend poll showed public support has shifted against the package amid renewed street marches by pro-democracy protesters.

But senior Chinese officials are expressing confidence behind the scenes that Hong Kong will still pass the package, paving the way for more protests in the Asian financial center.

Police are taking no chances following sometimes violent clashes during demonstrations against the package. More than 100,000 people took to the streets at the height of protests last year, bringing key areas of the city to a standstill. Only a few thousand turned out for Sunday's rally.

Britain handed Hong Kong back to China under a promise that core personal, social and commercial freedoms, backed by a British-style legal system, would be protected for 50 years.

Anti-Beijing sentiment is rising in Hong Kong, where soccer fans booed the Chinese national anthem during a World Cup qualifying match against Bhutan last week.

Wire services