CCTV footage captures woman planting fake bomb outside popular HK shopping mall

With the recent bombings in Manchester and Jakarta, the notion of a potential terrorist attack is no laughing matter.

Hong Kong police were on edge because of a woman who was caught on CCTV dropping off a suspicious object at Harbour City mall on Tuesday (May 30).

A 41-second CCTV clip shows a woman dressed in all-black, wearing a sleeveless top, long pants, sneakers and carrying a black backpack.

She strolls alongside the water outside the Ocean Terminal section of Harbour City before casually leaving the package behind and walking off.

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Her action prompted a forced evacuation of hundreds at one of Hong Kong's most popular shopping malls.

At around 2pm, a security guard at the mall in Tsim Sha Tsui called the police about a suspicious device left outside an American diner.

A customer in the steakhouse had also spotted the device and staff in the restaurant alerted the police.

As a result, after the area was cordoned off and more than 600 civilians were safely evacuated, a bomb squad was commissioned to use a robot to carry out a remote controlled detonation at 3.49pm.

Turns out, the "bomb" was fake - made out of seven paper tubes strapped with electrical cables and an alarm clock, arranged to look like dynamite. Police later reopened the cordoned-off area at 4pm.

According to the South China Morning Post on Wednesday (May 31), an 18-year-old female suspect has been identified as the woman in the video, but she is currently in hospital under police watch.

A police source said that the woman is believed to be mentally unstable and was sent to the hospital after complaning about feeling unwell at home. 

The source clarified that she has not been arrested but "will face arrest when she is fit for an interview". 

ljoey@sph.com.sg