Eight teenagers have been arrested after allegedly being recruited via social media by a crime syndicate to splash paint on the doors of flats and businesses across Hong Kong to intimidate debtors. The four boys and four girls were apprehended alongside a 24-year-old man on suspicion of criminal damage and conspiracy to commit criminal damage as part of a citywide police operation on Tuesday and Wednesday. The force said on Thursday that a crime syndicate had used popular social media platforms.