Nearly 200 Hong Kong police officers searched the Apple Daily office in Tseung Kwan O after Jimmy Lai, founder of its publisher Next Digital, was arrested over alleged foreign collusion under the city’s new national security law.
The police team arrived at the newspaper’s office building at around 10 a.m. An Apple Daily reporter who was present said the police did not show any search warrant. The reporter also said that the legal grounds for the search were uncertain.
But the police said on their Facebook page that officers had arrived at the premises of the newspaper with a search warrant to investigate alleged crimes undermining national security. Officers showed and explained the details of the search warrant to employees at the building and asked for their cooperation, according to the social media post.
Lai later appeared at the Apple Daily office at about 10:55 a.m under the custody of police. He was handcuffed with his arms held behind. As he went inside a bathroom, some 50 police officers stood guard outside and cordoned off the area.
Police also cordoned off the office premises, blocking other journalists as well as most Apple Daily staffers from entering, although some Apple Daily journalists who were already in the office were allowed to remain inside to record the goings-on. Officers were seen flipping through documents lying on employees’ desks.
The 71-year-old Lai, his sons Timothy and Ian, and several members of the senior management of Next Media were arrested on Monday morning on suspicion of violating Article 29 of the national security law, which prohibits collusion with foreign forces, and other alleged offenses. Lai was taken away at 9:45 a.m from his home at Kadoorie Avenue in Kowloon.
A total of seven people were arrested in the morning, sources said, including Royston Chow, Next Digital’s group chief operating officer, chief financial officer and executive director, who was led at around 10 a.m. from his home in South Horizons, Ap Lei Chau.
