Baggio Leung, a pro-independence politician who briefly served as a member of the Legislative Council in late 2016, joined the HKNF as its new spokesperson on 24 September 2018.

On 20 July 2019, the Hong Kong Police Force raided a factory unit belonging to the HKNF's then convenor Louis Lo[a] and found a cache of high explosives.

[1] Leung had briefly served as a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong in late 2016; he was unseated for making inappropriate remarks against China during his oath of office.

[4] During a news report by i-Cable, multiple students from the school told interviewers that they faced reprimand and punishment if they spoke Cantonese in class.

[5] In the early morning hours of 20 July 2019, officers from the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau of the Hong Kong Police Force raided a unit on the 20th floor of Lung Shing Factory Building in Tsuen Wan and found a cache of high explosives.

[6] An Explosive Ordnance Disposal team was subsequently dispatched and 1.5 kilograms (3.3 lb) of TATP,[d] 10 incendiary devices, and several jugs of acid were seized.

[12] On 25 November 2019, the prosecution amended Lo's charge to "manufacturing explosives with the intent to endanger life or property" and requested that the case be referred to the High Court.

[15] He pleaded guilty to one count of "possessing explosives with the intent to endanger life or property" and was sentenced to 12 years in prison by High Court Justice Andrew Chan.

[15] During the sentencing, Chan compared Lo's case with that of Yip Kai-foon, an infamous Chinese gangster of the 1980s and 1990s who was found with 1.8 kilograms (4.0 lb) of explosives when he was arrested.