A Hong Kong court has ordered the confiscation of more than HK$674,000 (US$86,000) seized from three defendants in a landmark terrorism trial, finding the funds were raised to finance 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.
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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 (4.4lbs) of explosives near a petrol station on Hennessy Road in Wan Chai.
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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.