Police arrest three labourers at Wang Fuk Court for stealing HK$90,000 of gold jewellery from disaster survivors, prompting new security measures at the devastated estate
Three Workers Arrested for Stealing From Hong Kong Fire Disaster Victims
In a development that has provoked profound anger across Hong Kong, three construction workers assigned to carry out structural reinforcement work at Wang Fuk Court — the Tai Po housing estate devastated by a fire that killed 168 people last November — have been arrested on suspicion of stealing HK$90,000 worth of gold jewellery from a flat they were working in. The arrests were made on Thursday afternoon, March 5, 2026, after officers recovered seven pieces of gold jewellery on the persons of the three labourers, aged 32 to 38, who were carrying out reinforcement work inside a flat at Wang Tai House. Police described the items as having been stolen from the unit the workers were responsible for reinforcing. The flat’s owner confirmed the items were his. Officers subsequently inspected other flats where the three men had worked but found no additional suspicious items.
The Backdrop: The Wang Fuk Court Fire
To understand why the theft has generated such an intense public response, one must understand the scale and human cost of the disaster from which it emerged. The Wang Fuk Court fire broke out on November 26, 2025, and burned for 43 hours and 27 minutes — the most devastating fire Hong Kong had seen since 1948. Seven of the estate’s eight residential towers were consumed. The blaze killed 168 people, including a firefighter who died in the line of duty, and injured 79 others. Victims ranged in age from six months to 98 years old. Most died inside their apartments. More than 40 were initially in critical condition. The fire originated in Wang Cheong House during ongoing renovation work on the exterior walls of all eight towers, with bamboo scaffolding wrapped in construction safety nets and tarps providing fuel for the rapid spread of the flames. Wang Fuk Court fire Wikipedia documents the full timeline and aftermath of the disaster.
Political Responses and the Sedition Arrests
The public response to the fire was not merely one of grief. It was one of anger — at construction safety failures, at apparent corruption in the renovation process, and at the speed with which authorities moved to arrest sedition suspects rather than focusing all resources on accountability for the deaths. Miles Kwan, a 24-year-old Chinese University of Hong Kong student who launched a public petition calling for an independent Commission of Inquiry into the fire, was arrested by the National Security Department on suspicion of seditious intent within days of the blaze. He was later expelled from CUHK. A former district councillor was arrested. Political commentators were charged with posting seditious material. The Independent Commission Against Corruption launched a corruption investigation into the renovation works. The Hong Kong police have declined to disclose how many people have been arrested on sedition charges in connection with commentary about the fire. Hong Kong Free Press has documented each of these cases in detail. The pattern tells a disturbing story: a government more immediately concerned with suppressing public criticism than with addressing the structural failures that made the fire possible and so deadly.
New Security Measures: HK$500 Cash Limit and Metal Detectors
Following the jewellery theft arrests, Police Commissioner Joe Chow Yat-ming announced a series of new security measures at Wang Fuk Court. Workers entering damaged buildings will now face a HK$500 cash limit — any worker carrying more than HK$500 in cash will be subject to questioning. Metal detector searches will be conducted on workers entering and leaving the site. Police manpower at the estate will be increased. Additional controls over worker access to damaged buildings will be implemented. “We have reviewed the security arrangements and will introduce additional measures to strengthen protection for residents’ property,” Commissioner Chow said at a press conference on Sunday. Reinforcement work at the estate, which had been temporarily suspended following the theft incident, was set to resume on Monday following the security review. The commissioner’s statement carried the right words. But for many Hongkongers, the fact that these measures were not in place from the beginning — that it required the actual theft of disaster victims’ possessions before authorities moved to adequately secure the site — was itself a failure of imagination and care that compounds the original tragedy.
The Human Reality Behind the Theft
The victims of the Wang Fuk Court fire have lost almost everything. Months after the blaze, thousands of residents remain displaced, living in temporary accommodation while their homes undergo assessment and repair. Many have not been able to retrieve their personal belongings from their flats, which have been off-limits as structural inspection and reinforcement work proceeds. The gold jewellery stolen by the three workers was not merely a financial asset for its owner. In Chinese culture, gold jewellery carries deep personal and familial significance — representing inheritance, identity, and family continuity in a way that transcends its market value. The theft of such items from a flat that had already been violated by fire, by displacement, and by months of uncertainty represents a particularly cruel violation of trust. The victims had relied on the workers assigned to repair their homes to be trustworthy custodians of what little remained. Three of those workers betrayed that trust in the most cynical and self-serving way imaginable. Al Jazeera Tai Po fire reporting provides international context on the accountability failures that followed the disaster.
A City’s Accountability Deficit
The Tai Po fire and its aftermath have revealed multiple layers of accountability failure in Hong Kong. There is the failure of construction safety regulation that allowed flammable materials to be used in the renovation scaffolding. There is the alleged corruption in the renovation contract process that the ICAC is investigating. There is the police response, which treated citizens who called for accountability as security threats. And now there is the failure to secure a fire disaster site against opportunistic theft by workers given access to vulnerable people’s homes. At each layer, the response of the authorities has been to manage the narrative rather than fully acknowledge and address the failure. Sedition charges silence critics. New security measures are announced after the fact, once the damage is done. The independent Commission of Inquiry that fire victims and civil society groups called for — modeled on the standard democratic accountability mechanism for disasters of this scale — has not been established. The government appointed its own advisory committee instead. For a city that brands itself on the rule of law, on professional governance, and on the trust of its residents in public institutions, the Tai Po fire saga has been a profound reputational wound. The wound will not heal through new security measures alone. It will heal only through the transparent accountability that the victims and their families deserve, and that Hong Kong’s damaged civic culture urgently needs.
Yuen Ting
Data, Research & Investigative Support Journalist, Apple Daily UK
Contact: yuenting@appledaily.uk
Yuen Ting is a data and research journalist with expertise in data verification, investigative support, and evidence-based reporting. She completed her journalism training at a leading UK journalism school, focusing on data journalism, statistical literacy, and investigative methodologies.
Her professional experience includes work with Apple Daily and other liberal Chinese publications, where she supports and authors reporting on public records, demographic trends, election data, and institutional accountability. Yuen Ting’s work emphasizes accuracy, reproducibility, and transparent methodology.
She has newsroom experience collaborating with reporters and editors on complex investigations, ensuring claims are supported by verified data and primary documentation. Her role strengthens editorial trust by reinforcing factual foundations behind major stories.
Yuen Ting’s authority stems from her technical expertise and consistent application of verification standards within reputable news organizations. At Apple Daily UK, she delivers trustworthy data-driven journalism that enhances transparency, credibility, and institutional reliability.
