Crawling through cockroach-infested pipes in total darkness, meet the Hong Kong police team that gets up close to terror threat

With terrorism a growing threat around the world, one specialist police squad in Hong Kong is focusing on the smallest security details to ensure nothing goes wrong when the city celebrates the 20th anniversary of its handover from Britain to China.

The confined space search team – tasked with scouring underground pipes, tunnels, wells and other hidden corners of all sorts – will be part of a 400-strong search team deployed in the search for weapons, bombs and any signs of danger during events to mark the occasion in July.

Watch: Underground with the Hong Kong police confined space search team

Veteran female member Ng Hiu-tung, who helped out during the fifth, 10th and 15th anniversary celebrations, expected the task this time would be more difficult than ever.

“We can see terrorist attacks happening overseas lately. These are scenarios our supervisor will take into account,” she said. “Our training has taken into account the trend that is unfolding abroad in order to keep ourselves up to date.”