Hong Kong police yesterday arrested one of six people suspected of fleeing with millions in ransom money after a kidnapping, the territory’s new Hong Kong Police Force Commissioner Steven Lo (盧偉聰) said.
Hong Kong authorities embarked on a massive operation to hunt down six suspected kidnappers after the release of a woman on Tuesday last week following a ransom payment of HK$28 million (US$3.61 million) from her family members. The arrest was made during officers’ latest search efforts yesterday morning.
“We arrested one of the suspects relating to this kidnap case in Lo Wu this morning,” Lo, who has replaced Andy Tsang Wai-hung (曾偉雄) as the city’s police chief, told reporters. Lo Wu is one of Hong Kong’s land border checkpoints connecting the territory with China.
The hunt had been extended to mainland China, Lo said.
“At the moment, we are still doing everything we can to look for other culprits. We are having very close cooperation with mainland authorities in order to find the wanted persons,” Lo said, without giving further detail.
Television footage showed that officers also descended on rural border town Sha Tau Kok, setting up roadblocks. A police spokesman said there was nothing to add about the arrest when approached by reporters, including whether any ransom money was retrieved.
Hundreds of armed officers have combed through Hong Kong’s rural areas, including country parks and villages, since the release of 29-year-old Queenie Rosita Law (羅君兒), with helicopters and marine vessels also deployed.
Law, who is the granddaughter of textiles tycoon Law Ting-pong (羅定邦), on Thursday said in a news conference that she was not injured.
She was held for at least three days by the kidnappers, who had initially demanded up to HK$50 million for her release, but settled on HK$28 million.
After returning to Chinese rule in 1997, Hong Kong remains a separate law enforcement jurisdiction from the rest of China under the “one country, two systems” mechanism.
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