The Hong Kong Police Force is investigating the reported disappearance of people related to a bookstore in the territory, Hong Kong Chief Secretary for Administration Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) said.
Lee Bo (李波), a major shareholder of Causeway Bay Books, which specializes in reading material critical of the Chinese Communist Party, went missing and his wife reported his disappearance on Friday afternoon, the South China Morning Post said yesterday.
The disappearance of Lee, 65, comes weeks after four people related to the bookstore and its owner vanished, the newspaper said.
The Hong Kong government cares about the well-being of its people, whether they are in the city or traveling abroad, Lam told reporters yesterday after attending an event, according to a statement from her office.
She declined to comment further, given the police investigation.
Gui Minhai (桂民海), the owner of Mighty Current, the publishing house that owns the bookstore, turned up in Thailand after leaving town, the South China Morning Post reported, without saying how it obtained the information.
The bookstore’s manager, Lam Wing-kei (林榮基); the publishing house’s general manager, Lui Bo (呂波); and the publishing house’s business manager, Cheung Jiping (張志平), were reported missing on Nov. 5 last year, the report said.
The bookstore, established in 1994, is said to be popular among tourists from mainland China, as they can buy political material banned across the border, the newspaper said.
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