Hong Kong student charged with possessing petrol bombs near police station alleges officer set him up to make sham arrest
- Lam Wai-ho’s lawyers say Sergeant So Chi-hang had instructed middleman to hire someone to carry out the crime outside Kwai Chung Police Station on April 13, 2020
- Sergeant had acted alone elsewhere during most of the operation but returned soon after Lam was arrested with bag of firebombs, court told
A Hong Kong student charged with possessing petrol bombs near a police station last year has alleged he was set up by an officer who planted the weapons on him so that the force could make a sham arrest.
Lawyers for defendant Lam Wai-ho told West Kowloon Court on Thursday that Sergeant So Chi-hang had instructed a middleman to hire someone to carry out the crime outside Kwai Chung Police Station on April 13 last year.
Prosecutors said Lam, a 23-year-old student from the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education, knowingly took the petrol bombs to Kwai Chung Estate that night to prepare for an attack on the station on the opposite side of the road.
In the trial that began on Wednesday, Lam denied a count of possessing offensive weapons in a public place. His counsel, Albert Luk Wai-hung, said his client had been set up by the sergeant.
The court heard that So and three other officers were patrolling the housing estate when Lam put down a bag with the firebombs outside Kwai Ching House at about 8.50pm. The student was immediately intercepted and arrested.
Under caution, Lam claimed he had been told by a man with a tattoo on his arm that the glass bottles were red wine, and that he would be given HK$5,000 (US$643) if he took them to the estate for collection by a third party. The man did not reveal the recipient’s identity to Lam.
