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Flying Sand
Opinion
Flying Sand
Niall Fraser

Thanks to police, Hong Kong can breathe easy after bomb scares – for now

The force wins a well-deserved PR victory for the way its bomb squad was able to deftly dispose of two second world war US bombs, but the incident arouses fears that the city is sitting on a minefield

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A bomb from the second world war is removed from the Sha Tin-Central rail link construction site in Wan Chai. Photo: Sam Tsang
Niall Fraser is a an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years of experience in Hong Kong, Asia and the wider world.

For the first time in what must seem like an eternity – certainly for the officers who man the thin blue line between law and disorder in Hong Kong – our police are front and centre of an explosive event – and it hasn’t blown up in their face.

Fifteen years ago if you had told me that the – hardly unusual – discovery and disposal of a couple of unexploded second world war bombs would represent a prime public relations opportunity for a 28,000-strong force which, quite rightly, used to be considered “Asia’s Finest”, I would have told you to keep taking the medicine.

But things have changed, and then some.

Bomb disposal officer Adam Roberts inspects the 220kg bomb at Pok Fu Lam last month. Photo: Handout
Bomb disposal officer Adam Roberts inspects the 220kg bomb at Pok Fu Lam last month. Photo: Handout
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