Returned Hong Kong absconder jailed for 12 years over trafficking drugs
Police say mainland Chinese authorities informed them in May that suspect was previously detained there for ‘illegally crossing the border’
A 50-year-old former construction worker who absconded from Hong Kong in connection with a 2018 narcotics trafficking case has been sentenced to 12 years in jail after mainland Chinese authorities transferred him back to the city.
Hong Kong police said on Friday that authorities across the border had used a mutual notification mechanism to tell them on May 20 that the suspect was previously detained there for allegedly “illegally crossing the border” via mainland waters.
The force said the man was handed over to Hong Kong police at the Shenzhen Bay checkpoint on Friday after serving his prison sentence on the mainland.
It was not immediately clear when the suspect left Hong Kong or the duration of his prison sentence on the mainland.
The suspect, identified in court as Chan Cheong-ming, jumped bail when his trial reached its closing stage at the High Court on July 15, 2019.
He failed to appear for the hearing where the trial judge recapped the evidence against him for the jury’s consideration.