Hong Kong police have launched an investigation after sharp objects were found hidden between seats on city buses in a series of incidents.
According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on Sunday, Hong Kong police said they are investigating a case involving a utility knife wedged between seats on the upper deck of a Citybus double-decker.
At around 5:20 p.m. on Thursday, a male passenger on a No. 37A bus traveling from Chi Fu Fa Yuen in Pok Fu Lam to Central discovered the utility knife on the upper deck and alerted the driver. Officers boarded the bus when it stopped in front of Pacific Place in Admiralty and seized the weapon. The knife was about 13 centimeters (5.11 inches) long, with the blade extended approximately 1 centimeter. No passengers were injured.
Police classified the case as attempted wounding with intent and assigned it to the Central District Crime Squad. Investigators are tracking suspects based on closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage from inside the bus.
Earlier, at around 8:25 p.m. on Sunday last week, a female passenger surnamed Lau was stabbed in the waist by a sewing needle about 5 centimeters long that had been hidden in the backrest of the rightmost seat in the last row of a Citybus No. 15C bus heading to Man Kwong Street. Lau pulled out the needle herself, wrapped it in tissue, and handed it over to police. She was taken to Queen Mary Hospital for treatment. Police also classified this case as attempted grievous bodily harm, with the Central District Crime Squad handling the investigation.
Citybus said it "regrets that acts threatening passenger safety have occurred" and that it is "fully cooperating with law enforcement agencies."
A similar incident occurred in Hong Kong in 2019, when an unemployed man inserted sewing needles into city bus seats, injuring three passengers. The court at the time ordered a psychiatric evaluation of the defendant, and a series of copycat crimes followed shortly after the case.
