2 men arrested at airport hours after allegedly breaking in to MTR depot to graffiti trains

Two men who allegedly broke into an MTR depot and spray-painted graffiti on a parked train have been arrested at the airport while waiting to board flights out of Hong Kong.

Officers received a report from staff at the Chai Wan MTR depot at around 2pm on Wednesday that a train had been sprayed with two murals measuring one metre by five metres each, police said during a press briefing on Thursday.

Staff also spotted two suspicious men fleeing the scene, they said.

Police arrived at the scene and discovered that a section of barbed wire around the depot had been damaged. They also found tools believed to have been left behind by the suspects, including nine spray paint cans, a wooden ladder, and two high-visibility vests.

Investigations suggested that the men had entered the depot through the section where the barbed wire had been cut.

“MTR train depots are very critical infrastructure,” chief inspector Chan Chi-leung said in Cantonese.

“The case involves destroying fencing around the depot, trespassing into the railway network, and spray-painting graffiti. Police are very concerned about this case,” he added.

After reviewing CCTV footage, the two men were arrested for alleged criminal damage in the departure hall of Hong Kong International Airport at 8pm on Wednesday.

The two men, both in their 30s, were bound for the US and Australia.

Clothing they wore while committing the alleged offence was found in their luggage.

Inspector Tse Hiu-wing said at the same press briefing that criminal damage is an extremely serious crime punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment. Besides endangering personal safety, trespassing into railway networks could also affect train services and facilities, she said.

HKFP has reached out to MTR Corporation for comment.

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Hillary Leung is a journalist at Hong Kong Free Press, where she reports on local politics and social issues, and assists with editing. Since joining in late 2021, she has covered the Covid-19 pandemic, political court cases including the 47 democrats national security trial, and challenges faced by minority communities.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Hillary completed her undergraduate degree in journalism and sociology at the University of Hong Kong. She worked at TIME Magazine in 2019, where she wrote about Asia and overnight US news before turning her focus to the protests that began that summer. At Coconuts Hong Kong, she covered general news and wrote features, including about a Black Lives Matter march that drew controversy amid the local pro-democracy movement and two sisters who were born to a domestic worker and lived undocumented for 30 years in Hong Kong.