Apple Daily file photo: VCG

Chris Tang Ping-keung, Secretary for Security in Hong Kong, said on Wednesday that he had issued a freezing order for Apple Daily's printing factory located in Tseung Kwan O (TKO), in accordance with the rule of the national security law for Hong Kong.

Tang said he issued the order on Wednesday morning, for the property is suspicious of being linked to crimes against national security, the Hong Kong Economic Times reported. 

Tang mentioned that, after being accused of colluding with foreign forces and violating the national security law, the Apple Daily should know why it is under prosecution, according to the report. 

Apple Daily, a major secessionist tabloid in Hong Kong, issued its final hard copy in late June. This was seen as a significant event that put an end to an era when foreign proxies and secessionist forces could recklessly meddle in China's internal affairs by cultivating agents, like the paper's founder Jimmy Lai and his media group. 

Lai and Apple Daily editor-in-chief, Ryan Law Wai-Kwong, along with other four senior executives of Next Digital, the parent company of the newspaper, have been arrested.  

Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP), who is responsible for the management of TKO Industrial Estate where the Apple Daily printing factory is located, sued the Apple Daily in the High Court of HKSAR on Tuesday. It is demanding the immediate return of land in TKO and the prohibition to handle over the land to a third party and offering compensation, according to media reports.

The HKSTP issued a lease breach notice to Apple Daily Printing Limited in June for its multiple alleged violations under the lease terms.