Democracy activist Howard Lam was arrested in the early hours of today after police said he had wasted their time by making a suspected false kidnapping claim.
Lam, 42, made headlines last week after he claimed he had been abducted on the streets of Yau Ma Tei by two Mandarin-speaking men, who allegedly beat him, stapled his legs, and dumped him on a beach. The Democratic Party member said he believed he was being targeted over a signed Lionel Messi photo he intended to send to Liu Xia, the widow of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.
Superintendent Cheng Lai-ki from the Kowloon West regional crime unit told reporters today that Lam was arrested at 12:30am. “We have reason to believe that [Lam] gave false information and misled police officers,” Cheng said.
The superintendent said that CCTV footage from surrounding shops showed that Lam was in Yau Ma Tei before and after the time of the alleged abduction, but left the area safely and alone via an undisclosed mode of transport. “At the moment, our information does not show him being pushed into a car like he claimed.”
Cheng added that while surveillance footage showed that Lam had walked on some of the streets he claimed to, many of the details he gave of his movements did not match the information available, leading police to believe he had fabricated his story.
His arrest came after a report by local news agency FactWire, which acquired CCTV surveillance footage it said showed Lam walking in the neighborhood of Yau Ma Tei after the time he alleged he had been abducted from there.
It reported the man it identified as Lam appeared in some footage wearing a cap, surgical mask and sunglasses, but said his gait and clothes matched earlier footage that showed his face.
“He was alone by himself, no one was seen being carried off,” FactWire said.
When shown the footage by FactWire, Lam denied the masked man was him, saying it could be a body double, the agency reported.
The Democratic Party, to which Lam belongs, said during a press conference on Friday they believed those who carried out the abduction were mainland agents.
Party veteran Albert Ho questioned Tuesday how FactWire had acquired the CCTV footage, suggesting it may have been leaked by police.
He said he did not consider the images conclusive and called for police to fully investigate Lam’s allegations.
On Sunday, Lam addressed his doubters via a Facebook Live video, in which he defended his delay in filing a police report and choice to wash the clothes he wore during his alleged ordeal. Following claims from detractors that he simply made up a story to “climb the political ladder”, Lam vowed to quit the political scene to keep his family safe.
With reporting from AFP
