Source: Apple Daily / Coconuts HK

Police are investigating claims that one of their own tried to keep an affair in secret by using an official safe house for trysts with his married lover. The apparent misuse of the safe house came to light when the husband of the lover hired a private investigator to tail his wife, Apple Daily reports. The private investigator took photos of the pair going in and out of the safe house inside an industrial building on Hok Yuen Street in Hung Hom on several occasions over the course of one month.

The officer at the center of the case is a married man in his 40s, surnamed Fung, who was last year promoted to the rank of superintendent and transferred to the force’s security wing. Prior to that he was a chief inspector stationed in Mong Kok. According to the Hong Kong Police Force’s website, the security wing provides VIP protection, liaises with consulates and coordinates security operations, including counter-terrorism and related training. Fung’s lover is a civil servant who works near the police headquarters in Wan Chai, where Fung is based. The woman’s husband filed a complaint to police, including the private investigator's photos which were posted in an instant chat group popular among officers on Tuesday.

Apple Daily reports that such safe houses are usually disguised as residential or industrial units, and are typically used for meetings with informants or between undercover officers and their handlers. The locations of the safe houses are changed periodically. Sources told the newspaper that Fung was the sole key-holder for the safe house in Hung Hom. Since the allegations emerged, police have had to stop using that safe house, and Fung was ordered to take leave as police investigate the incident.

Police declined to comment on the case, aside from saying that they will deal with the matter harshly if any personnel are found to be in violation of the force’s rules.

Source: Coconuts HK / Apple Daily HK

Edited: johnwai82

A wild chase through an MTR station, videotaped by a man who claims he was sexually assaulted ended yesterday with the arrest of the 38-year-old he accused of groping him in a train car. According to Apple Daily, the incident took place at about 8am yesterday morning on a Tung Chung line train bound for Hong Kong station.

The alleged victim, “Ah Keung,” not his real name, told the newspaper he was taking the train to work in Central, and as the train doors opened, felt a hand, one he insists belonged to the man in question  brushed against his groin region. Ah Keung said at first he wrote the odd contact as incidental, telling the paper his immediate reaction was “no way, a man can’t be indecently assaulted surely?” Pro tip: Yes they can.

What happened was a bit odd. As he walked through the walkway that connected to Hong Kong and Central MTR stations, he noticed the same man walking close to him and suspected he was going to attempt touching him again. Ah Keung told the newspaper that he immediately looked up and Lee walked away. Apparently, that was suspicious enough behavior to decide that the earlier encounter had, in fact been something less than kosher. It was at this point that Ah Keung confronted the man who denied the accusation and took off. Cue the pursuit, which was filmed by the alleged victim’s cell phone. Throughout the video, Lee can be heard saying “I didn’t do anything to you” as he is chased through the ticket barriers.

Four police officers arrive at the station to question Lee, and he was arrested on suspicion of indecent assault. 

Source: Ejinsight / OnCC

A minibus driver was killed and more than a dozen passengers were hurt after an accident in Tin Sum in Sha Tin district on Monday. At around 8:30 am, a green minibus serving route No. 403 crashed into a boundary wall on a road and flipped over to its right side, resulting in casualties. The bus driver, a man aged 67, suffered a head injury due to the crash and was knocked unconscious while his passengers found themselves getting thrown around inside the vehicle.

The accident took place on Shing Mun Tunnel Road as the bus was traveling from Shek Lei Estate to Sha Tin Wai, the Hong Kong Economic Journal reports. It is believed that driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed it onto a boundary wall, sending it careening onto its side. The minibus was crushed, with the head of the vehicle severely damaged, leaving the driver trapped inside. After being alerted about the incident, firefighters and paramedics arrived at the scene. Firemen pulled out the driver, who was in an unconscious state. He was rushed to Yan Chai Hospital, where he was later certified dead. All of the 16 passengers, aged 18 to 56, were injured but managed to get out of the minibus. None of the passengers, comprising 10 males and six females, was in life-threatening condition, although two of them were reported to have suffered more serious injuries than the rest. They were sent to Yan Chai Hospital and Princess Margaret Hospital in conscious state for treatment.

According to reports, the driver had been on regular medication for high blood pressure, and it uncertain whether he took his pill that morning before the accident happened. There was no sign of emergency braking in the incident. Police officers were investigating the driver’s mental state and the speed at which he was driving, RTHK reported. Initial investigations suggested that mechanical failure was not to blame for the crash, the public broadcaster quoted a police officer as saying. According to the driver’s son, his father had been working the route for two years. The minibus operator, meanwhile, stressed that it requires all of its drivers to make health declarations every year. According to the firm, the driver did not disclose any long-term illness during the declaration last year.

Source: OnCC / Coconuts HK

At least one person has died and 21 people have been injured after an oil tanker caught fire off the coast of Lamma Island this morning. According to Ming Pao, police received a report that the tanker, the Aulac Fortune had caught fire about one nautical mile off the coast of the island’s south side at 11am. The spot where the tanker had caught fire is close to Sham Wan, which is one of the few sea turtle resting grounds in southern China, and is also known locally as “turtle cove”.

A police spokesperson told Coconuts HK that so far at least one person has been confirmed dead, two are missing, and at least 23 were rescued. The spokesperson confirmed that at least one of the 21 people who were injured was taken to Ruttonjee Hospital in Wan Chai for treatment. Apple Daily reports that one of the injured — a 36-year-old Vietnamese man — was taken to Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam. Police were unable to confirm to Coconuts HK how many crew members were on board the tanker and their nationalities, but Ming Pao reports that it had 27 members of crew, and most are believed to be Vietnamese.

Residents on Lamma Island reported hearing loud bangs, and feeling their windows and doors shaking. One resident called Clare Merlo wrote on a Facebook for Lamma Island residents: “I felt it. My front door banged. The noise shook me right through.” Deb Lindsay, a resident who lives in the village of Po Wah Yuen in the northern part of the island, wrote: “My windows shook really badly but the was no wind. I thought there had been an earthquake!”

According to Ming Pao, the Aulac Fortune is a Vietnam-registered vessel built in 2010, and it arrived in Hong Kong from the city of Dongguan, in Guangzhou province last night. The vessel is about 144 meters long, and 22.6 meters wide.

A citywide search was under way on Thursday for six people who pushed a 63-year-old Hong Kong woman onto the ground and kicked her dog. The group also beat a 27-year-old man who tried to stop the attack, which took place on Wednesday soon after 11.30pm at Fu Hong Street Pet Garden in Chai Wan.

Police said the five men and one woman, thought to be aged between 20 and 40, had fled the scene before officers arrived. The violence was spurred by an argument over a trivial matter that began when the woman’s adult male shiba inu started barking at the group’s own dog. Police said in a statement: “They are suspected of pushing the female victim onto the floor and kicking the victim’s dog.” The passer-by saw the incident and tried to stop the six but was punched in the head. Officers scouted the area, but no arrests were made.

The woman suffered leg injuries and complained of back pain after the attack, and the man was hurt on his forehead and nose. They were taken conscious to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan for treatment. The dog was sent to the Wan Chai office of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). An SPCA spokeswoman said the dog had been handed back to the owner’s family after undergoing examinations and treatment at its 24-hour facility in Wan Chai. The case has been classified by police as assault and cruelty to an animal.