Hong Kong court orders confiscation of HK$674,000 in terrorism trial

A Hong Kong court has ordered the confiscation of more than HK$674,000 (US$86,065) seized from three defendants in a landmark terrorism trial, finding the funds were gathered to support a plot to kill police during the 2019 anti-government protests.

The High Court on Monday declared the money raised by the “Dragon Slaying Brigade” constituted terrorist property under the United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Ordinance, the first such order since the law came into effect in 2002.

Team leader Wong Chun-keung, mastermind Ng Chi-hung, and co-defendant Lau Pui-ying, who was among six people acquitted at trial, did not object and were absent from the hearing.

The order was made 1½ years after the court handed down jail sentences to seven of 14 defendants prosecuted over the plan to murder police officers during a mass demonstration on December 8, 2019.

Under the plan, the conspirators would vandalise shops seen as pro-government to draw police onto the street, before detonating a bomb packed with 2kg of explosives near a petrol station on Hennessy Road in Wan Chai.

A sniper would then ambush retreating officers while another would set off a larger bomb containing 8kg of explosives and 150 nails. The objective was to steal officers’ handguns in preparation for further conflicts with authorities.

A financial investigation found the conspirators had raised more than HK$4 million through various channels, with HK$2.27 million gathered after opening a Telegram channel called “Dragonteam2019” on November 6, 2019.