Hong Kong police have arrested two teenage boys for allegedly breaking off a 17-meter handrail from a pedestrian footbridge and throwing it onto some railway tracks, disrupting train services.
The police said they believed the suspects did it “just for fun.”
The incident occurred in the early hours on Sunday. The police said they checked a large amount of surveillance camera footage in the Tai Po, Fanling and Sheung Shui districts, and spotted the two suspects.
The duo, who are both Hong Kong residents, were arrested at around 8:20pm on Tuesday at their homes.
The pair were a 14-year-old local student who lives at Fanling’s Cheung Wah Estate, and an 18-year-old who also holds a British passport residing in a village in Lung Yeuk Tau, Fanling. The latter was not a student and has a part-time job.
Tai Po district crime squad inspector Leung Cheuk-hei told reporters on Wednesday that the duo were friends: “We believe their motivation for committing the crime was just for fun… The investigation for now showed there were no tools involved.”
The police said they believed the handrail was thrown onto the tracks and landed on four overhead cables near Tai Wo station at around 4am on Sunday.
When engineering staff were preparing to start the East Rail Line service for the day at around 5am, they discovered a failure in electricity supply and subsequently found the handrail on the cables. They then called the police.
Train service was disrupted for around an hour, with the service between Tai Po Market station and Fanling station being temporarily suspended.
The suspects were held for investigation.
