Baffled cops have tripled the reward on offer for information leading to the capture of an "acid-bomb" attacker who they believe may have struck twice in six months, injuring 76 people.The offer of a HK$300,000 reward came as Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen condemned the latest attack in Mong Kok on Saturday, which left 30 people burned, as an "extremely serious crime."
The weekend attack was just 150 meters from the scene of a similar outrage in the pedestrianized Sai Yeung Choi Street last December.
No one has been arrested.
Moves are being made to speed up the installation of high-powered CCTV cameras in the area.
Detectives have also activated the force's intelligence-led computer as they hunt for clues as to who may be behind the attacks.
The area was quieter than usual for a Sunday when Tsang visited the scene to be briefed by detectives yesterday.
Fourteen women and 16 men were hospitalized for burns after being splashed by two bottles of suspected corrosive acid thrown from a building.
All but one, a 16 year-old girl who is stable, have been released.
Tsang said: "The police have informed me that they will use the Major Incident Investigation and Disaster Support System to analyze this incident and the last attack in December last year, hoping to trace the culprit.
"They have also offered a reward of HK$300,000."
More than 60 officers from Kowloon West police headquarters interviewed residents yesterday.
Police said they had not ruled o
ut the possibility that the same person or people carried out both attacks.Yau Tsim Mong district councillor Hau Wing-cheong, who is in charge a working group for the setting up of "eyes in the sky" project, said they could not help but wonder if the acid thrower knew CCTV had not yet been installed in the area.
"We approved the installation in January with a budget of HK$400,000," Hau said. "But then the police said we'd better install `high definition' ones, which cost HK$1.7 million.
"We have to start all over again and delay it until June to satisfy all the tender procedures and to consult with the privacy commissioner."
An emergency district council meeting will be held today to discuss the issue.
Dennis Wong Sing-wing, leader of the bachelor of social science (criminology) course at City University of Hong Kong, said: "Most people won't realize the closed-circuit televisions have yet to be installed months after the last attack."
Wong outlined three possible motives for the attacks. He said the culprit may be frustrated with communication difficulties and was seeking attention, was annoyed by the part-time pedestrianized street, or wanted to challenge the police.
"Whatever the scenario is, the culprit is very likely to strike again," Wong warned.
Banky Yeung Ping-kei, artistic director of FM Theater Power, which puts on street shows on Sai Yeung Choi Street, said yesterday the group will not be scared off by the acid attacker. "Yet there are much fewer people in the street for a Sunday," he noted.
Indeed, the street was much less crowded even compared with weekdays.
