Police confirmed arrested a 32-year-old man on 27th March 2019, accused him of having a group chat of more than 20,000 members, which had mentioned attacks on police, road blocking and others. He was arrested on suspicion of inciting others to commit injuries and inciting others to commit public harassment. He is still being detained for investigation.

On the evening of 29th March, the police used the administrator account of the “Master over Power” (開掛之達人) on Telegram to issue a police notice on the channel, stating that the content of this channel has been removed by the police. At present, all information records of the channel have been deleted, but more than 20,000 netizens are still following the chat.

Police claimed someone were incited to make hydrogen bomb

Superintendent of the Cyber Security and Technology Crime Investigation Branch, Swalikh Mohammed said, in the past nine months social platforms were used by some people to spread hate speech and false information in attempt to divide the society, incite violence, and encourage non-compliance. Such as “making gasoline bombs, hydrogen bombs”, occupying roads, blocking railways, etc.

The police allege that after an in-depth investigation, they have targeted a group that advocated violence and started the operation on 27th March. They arrested a 32-year-old local man in Tuen Mun whom is reported to be a sales. Police said he was the owner of the group and was suspected of committing crimes of inciting others to injure others and inciting others to commit public harassment.

The police refer to participating in discussions might be illegal

Swalikh Mohammed said the police have taken a laptop computer and a phone in the operation. The case is still in investigation, police will consult the Department of Justice to study whether the men have committed other crimes, including acts of incitement, and whether they have violated the injunction of the High Court. Due the chat carries a lot of inflammatory information, the police will close the channel.

Swalikh Mohammed refused to reveal which social media or communication app was the channel in relation to, but said that the channel has more than 21,000 people participating, has been in operation for several months, and has influence. Message from the channel has once mentioned the production of “some bombs” to attack the police or dissidents, also to block roads and railways. As to whether other people who participated in the channel will be arrested, Swalikh Mohammed said that the channel has called on participants for comments, and if they do participated, they may violate the law.

18:00 in the evening, the police used the administrator account of “Master over Power” to issue a notice on the channel, stating that the content of this channel has been removed by the police. The same notice also appeared on the police Facebook page. The post on Facebook, referred the group having a large amount of incitement content, including the use of violence against dissidents, the manufacture of gasoline bombs, chlorine bombs, and acid bombs. The Facebook post, no longer mentioned the word hydrogen bomb.