Tate’s Cairn Tunnel crash exposes airport gold heist suspect
Thestandard · 2 SOURCESabout 1 hour ago2 MIN
Summary
A two-car crash inside Tate’s Cairn Tunnel in the early hours of Tuesday left one driver with minor injuries and briefly disrupted traffic through the tunnel. Police later said one of the drivers, a 21-year-old wanted man, was allegedly connected to the June 18 robbery of HK$7 million worth of gold bars at an airport car park.
Key Points
- The collision happened at about 3am during single-tube, two-way traffic inside Tate’s Cairn Tunnel, involving two private cars heading through the tunnel.
- One car travelling towards Sha Tin collided with another vehicle, and one driver suffered minor injuries in the crash.
- Scene images showed heavy front-end damage to one of the cars, while traffic inside the tunnel was temporarily congested after the accident.
- Police found the 21-year-old driver of one car was wanted, allegedly unlicensed, and in possession of illegal drugs.
- Investigators later linked him to the June 18 airport car park heist in which robbers stole a backpack containing HK$7 million in gold bars from a 36-year-old man after a knife attack.
Why It Matters
The crash turned into a significant development in a major robbery investigation, with police saying the 21-year-old is expected to face six provisional charges and appear at Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts tomorrow morning. The arrest raises the total number of people detained in the airport gold robbery case to 18, as police continue pursuing suspects believed to have fled to mainland China.