Police officers investigate one of the buses.Hong Kong police have arrested a 30-year-old man who is thought to be responsible for the recent strange spate of needles sticking out of bus seats.
A police source said officers from Sha Tin crime squad arrested the unemployed man on Wednesday night. Police were searching his flat in Leung Fat House, Cheung Fat Estate, in Tsing Yi.
Officers suspect that he was involved in at least the first three reported cases.
Kowloon Motor Bus company issues warning over needles found in seats of buses
“Initial investigation showed that he was responsible for cases involving bus routes 41A, 48X and 81,” the insider said.
Since last week, there have been six cases of needles being planted in seats on KMB double-decker buses. At least two passengers were injured.
The first case involved a bus on route 41A from Tsim Sha Tsui East to Tsing Yi last Wednesday evening.
A woman boarded the bus in Yau Ma Tei and sat on the upper deck without realising a needle had been planted in her seat. She suffered an injury to her hip.
About an hour later, another woman was injured in the thigh by a needle on the top deck of a bus on route 48X, running between Sha Tin and Tsuen Wan.
The next day, another needle was spotted on a route 81 bus, but no one was injured.
About half of KMB’s fleet of more than 3,800 double-decker buses have CCTV cameras installed on both the upper and lower decks.
But KMB said the nine cameras on each bus could not capture every corner of the vehicle.