Hong Kong’s bomb squad has turned to tailor-made robots from mainland China amid geopolitical tensions, as it intensifies drills against home-made explosives in preparation for the National Games.
Superintendent Andy Cheung Lap-tak of the explosive ordnance disposal bureau told the Post that bomb disposal officers had been advising authorities on potential security risks during the Games and would be present during the events to ensure overall safety.
Cheung explained that organisers who lacked experience with bomb threats could imagine “dramatic scenarios that were unrealistic” and more suited to the cinema than reality.
In such cases, the bomb disposal team would step in to provide accurate advice and guidance, he said.
With the Games set to kick off this Sunday, the city’s experts have been training to dispose of home-made bombs, small explosives such as mortar bombs and grenades, as well as gathering intelligence on the latest bomb attack trends and threats.
The squad’s 20-odd full-time specialists would also tailor their training according to the latest global intelligence on bomb threats and assist the organisers of the Games in assessing and planning for bomb threats and vulnerabilities.
That included debunking myths over bomb attacks, as real-life incidents were vastly different from what people saw in cinemas, according to Cheung.
“A common [misconception] is that attackers would start with a stabbing, then drop two bombs before being hit,” Cheung said.
“We would raise real cases, such as previous attacks overseas. We also have regular intelligence exchanges with bomb disposal counterparts in other countries. We [will use these] to tell them reality isn’t like this.”
In real life, bombers were more likely to focus on causing an explosion, and transport stops were often chosen as targets, he said.
In addition to the officers, two mainland-made bomb disposal robots would also help defend the city during the Games.
Custom-built at mainland factories, the pair included a 350kg (771lbs) model known as “Panda” and a lighter 80kg counterpart called “Red Panda”, their titles reflecting both their Chinese origins and sizes.
Panda was first deployed in 2023 and has received two upgrades, while Red Panda was introduced in 2022 and upgraded four times since.
The robots were developed amid restrictions placed by some countries on Hong Kong after 2020.
“Since we had procurement issues, we relied on our motherland and looked for suitable models on the mainland,” Cheung said.
The United Kingdom has suspended sales of crowd control equipment to Hong Kong since June 2019.
The UK and the United States have also frozen law enforcement training to the city since Beijing imposed the national security law in 2020.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence told The Observer newspaper in August 2020 that it had suspended its drill instructor programmes for the Hong Kong Police Force, the Government Flying Service and its sea cadet corps due to Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, but described the national security law as a breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration.
While existing models were unsuitable due to differences in bomb disposal tactics between Hong Kong and the mainland, the manufacturers were happy to customise the robots according to the city’s needs.
“They were willing to listen and accept our requests, even though the production volume was not huge. This had never happened with overseas manufacturers,” Cheung said.
For Red Panda, Hong Kong’s officers decided to retain a clamp that was part of the original design and used on the mainland to extract a bomb from the surroundings.
The rest of the robot’s body held a disrupter, a tool which could eject jets of liquid to disable bombs without detonating them, added at the bureau’s request.
For Panda, officers requested a platform on which various sets of disrupters could be fitted, a design feature retained from previous bomb disposal robots. A camera was also fitted to enhance remote control operations.
The two robots cost less than HK$2 million (US$257,370) each and would be expected to be in use for up to seven years.
Cheung said city officers continued to attend bomb disposal conferences in the West, but the bureau has not hosted any Western specialists at its Jardine’s Lookout depot during training sessions in recent years.
Around 30 cadre members have also been summoned for full-time work during the Games.
They would undergo intensive training over two weeks to prepare them for potential bomb discovery scenarios during the Games and to sharpen their skills in disposing of simple explosives.
“We can’t rule out the possibility that during the National Games, there may be some small explosives such as grenades or mortar bombs discovered in the hills. We will delegate these cases to our reserve members,” Cheung said.
Other scenarios that would be brought up during training included how to handle an unattended backpack in crowded areas and how to dispose of grenades found on major thoroughfares or in stadiums. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
