June 8, 2023
HONG KONG – The National Security Department of Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) on Tuesday arrested three men and as many women in various districts of the city on suspicion of conspiracy to forgery, contravening sections 159A and 71 of the Crimes Ordinance.
The arrestees are aged between 33 and 64, police said in a statement Tuesday night.
Among the six, a 33-year-old man and a 64-year-old woman were also suspected of carrying out an act or acts with seditious intentions, contravening sections 9 and 10 of the ordinance.
The two were suspected of endangering national security by repeatedly publishing posts with seditious intentions on social media platforms bringing hatred against the central authorities and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, said police.
Police arrested the six raiding their residences in different parts of Hong Kong, and seized some electronic communication devices and related documents
They also advocated the independence of Hong Kong and incited the use of violence, they added.
The arrestees were suspected of forging signatures on documents, according to a police investigation.
The law enforcers conducted searches at the arrested people’s residences with court warrants. They seized some electronic communication devices and related documents during the raids.
The arrestees are being detained for further inquiries, police said in the statement.
Quoting unnamed sources, a Chinese news website identified two of the arrestees as people who were jailed for involvement in a bomb attack plot in 2020, two of their relatives and two activists who visited young people imprisoned for offenses related to social unrest and encouraged them to resist rehabilitation.
The HKPF reminded the public that doing an act or acts with seditious intention is a serious crime and offenders are liable to two years’ imprisonment on the first conviction.