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`Devil' cop's ambush of fellow officers stuns HK

Tsui Po-ko, a rogue Hong Kong police officer who died after killing one policeman and seriously wounding another in pedestrian underpass this month, is seen in this undated photo. PHOTO: AP

He was a policeman who scored high on his academy exams. He once carried a sign saying "Democracy" in a street protest demanding more political freedom in Hong Kong. He was also a contestant on the local version of the TV game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

By all accounts, Tsui Po-ko (徐步高) was an above-average citizen. But then he shocked Hong Kong by gunning down a policeman and seriously wounding another in a pedestrian underpass in one of the city's most popular tourist districts.

Tsui, better known by his media nicknames "rogue policeman" and "devil cop," has been the most talked-about person in Hong Kong since the unexplained shooting that also claimed his life about a week ago.

News of the gunfight in the blood-spattered underpass and the investigation have made front-page headlines daily for the past week. It has sparked intense speculation about whether gangsters and other shadowy figures have infiltrated the police.

Tsui, 35, was a tall, lanky man with a square jaw, a crew cut as short as peach fuzz and sweeping eyebrows that looked like the long wings of a flying bat. He was a fitness fanatic, a runner with a sinewy body like a lightweight boxer.

The policeman -- who had a wife and six-year-old daughter -- was off duty, dressed in khaki pants and a knit hat, when the shooting happened shortly after midnight on March 17 in the Tsim Sha Tsui district.

Tsui ambushed the patrolling officers as they walked down the stairs into the underpass, Lee Ka-chiu (李家超), assistant police commissioner, told reporters.

Investigators believe Tsui was acting alone, and his attack was meticulously planned, Lee said.

His goal was to steal guns and bullets from the two policemen, Lee said, adding that investigators were still trying to understand what motivated Tsui.

"In my 29 years of service, this is the first case which involves a suspect like this," he said.

One of the details that sparked interest was that Tsui's gun was stolen from a policeman who was shot dead while answering a bogus noise complaint in March 2001. The same gun was apparently used in the fatal shooting of a security guard during a bank robbery in December that year, Lee said.

If Tsui were alive, he could be prosecuted for the 2001 killings, Lee said.

Early speculation was that Tsui was mixed up with triads. But Lee insisted that Tsui wasn't involved with triads.

David Chan, a senior lecturer of criminology at City University of Hong Kong, said a few police may be linked to triads, but he doubted that gangsters were entrenched in the force.

He said that the police are well paid compared with others in the region.

"I'm inclined to think the Hong Kong police force is a highly professional team," he said.

Local media quickly began digging into Tsui's past and found that he was an ambitious and active man. A photograph of him was printed in the weekly Eastweek magazine, showing him marching in a recent pro-democracy protest holding a gold-framed sign saying "Democracy."

Tsui and his wife also appeared on the TV show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? in 2001. They won HK$60,000 (US$7,692) on the program, which is to be rebroadcast this weekend.

Dennis Wong, head of the criminology department at City University, said that Tsui appeared to be driven by "aggregated frustration."

He said Tsui was passed over for promotions several times over the past five years because he was reportedly deemed too aloof and not a team player.

"Tsui had all sorts of abilities. He was 6 feet [1.83m] tall. He was a good shooter. He was very muscular. He could run fast. He should have been promoted, but he wasn't because of the personality defects," he said.

Wong said that when some people can't achieve socially approved goals -- like money, status and power -- by legitimate means, they resort to illegitimate methods.

"This happened in Tsui's case. It's very clear," he said.
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