As Mok Kam-chuen began his first question, Yu Suqiu, who had remained silent throughout, finally moved, writing rapidly to record the hearing.
"To be precise, our Security Department received an intelligence bulletin from Interpol informing us that terrorists might have secretly entered Hong Kong Island."
Zhou Quan neither denied it nor directly admitted it. He merely stated what was clearly documented in the official records.
"Since you already had intelligence on the terrorists, why didn't you simply cancel last night's Jewelry Exhibition? Why deploy an operation inside the Kum To Hotel instead?"
"Weren't you worried that the terrorists would threaten the safety of last night's attendees?"
"Or did you deliberately use last night's Jewelry Exhibition as a trap to lure those terrorists into your net?"
Mok Kam-chuen posed a series of questions. He was not deliberately making things difficult for Zhou Quan; these were precisely the points the public had questioned.
Many people with an agenda had made even more malicious remarks, outright claiming that Zhou Quan had disregarded the safety of prominent political and business figures, caring about nothing but striking at the terrorists.
"Interpol's intelligence bulletin only expressed suspicion that the terrorists had entered Hong Kong Island. It wasn't definitive confirmation."
Shaking his head gently, Zhou Quan explained calmly, "After analyzing various sources of information, our Security Department judged that the Jewelry Exhibition at the Kum To Hotel might become a target for these terrorists."
"These terrorists have been active in Southeast Asia for years, committing several terrorist attacks involving extortion."
"They were responsible for the terrorist attack and extortion case at Jue Xin Primary School, an elite school in Singapore, two years ago."
"The Jewelry Exhibition at the Kum To Hotel was simply the most prominent and highest-value target on Hong Kong Island recently."
"Besides the Kum