2 more drills with ‘harsher scenarios’ planned for revamped Huanggang crossing

Hong Kong will hold two more drills later this month at the revamped Huanggang border crossing, with up to 20,000 civil servants involved to test the new immigration clearance gates under “harsher scenarios”, according to the city’s security chief.

Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said on Monday that authorities had identified problems such as the lack of notices and benches, as well as crowd congestion at the transport interchange, following two earlier large-scale drills held last Thursday and Saturday on the Hong Kong side of Huanggang Port.

“Overall, we think the previous two drills have been smooth. As the port building has sufficient space, we are confident in handling more travellers,” Tang said.

“Meanwhile, congestion may appear if the arrangement at the transport interchange is not arranged well. We will strengthen the notices, improve the queuing arrangement and step up crowd control measures.”

The drill on Saturday, which involved 5,000 civil servants, replicated the usual hourly passenger flow during weekends, and Tang said the problems that arose had generally been resolved.

He added that the drill included a cross-departmental counterterrorism exercise, which simulated a scenario involving two terrorists, one posing as a tourist found to be carrying dangerous goods, and an accomplice.