By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Trading of media publisher Next Digital Ltd .'s (HK:0282) shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange was suspended on Thursday, with five executives of the company-owned Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Daily newspaper arrested earlier in the day.

Next Digital shares last closed at HK$0.3 ($0.039).

Apple Daily said five of its directors had all been arrested in the morning, including editor-in-chief Ryan Law, CEO Cheung Kim-Hung, chief operating officer Chow Tat-Kuen, deputy chief editor Chan Puiman and chief executive editor Cheung Chi-Wai.

National security police said in a statement that they were suspicious that the five directors of Apple Daily colluded with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security. The police also said officers had searched Apple Daily with a warrant that covers "the power of searching and seizure of journalistic materials."

The operation was ongoing and aimed to collect evidence for a case related to a suspected violation of the national security law imposed in 2020.

The suspension comes after trading in the company’s shares was suspended in May 2021 as its founder Jimmy Lai’s assets were frozen under Hong Kong’s national security law. Trading restarted a week later and shares soared 69.35%.

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