The mainland gangster who laughed in a television interview as he described a gun battle with police during a dramatic armed robbery is an ex-soldier, it emerged yesterday.
Ma Shangzhong stole the show from alleged crime kingpin Cheung Tze-keung last week when Guangdong TV news programme Society Focus ran an interview with him.
'The way he shot was professional. He had received army training,' a source said.
Ma is alleged to have taken part in five Hong Kong jewellery shop robberies in 1991 with convicted gunman Yip Kai-foon and others.
Ma was one of two armed robbers in the raids who were unmasked. The gang netted $5.7 million in jewellery.
He was also accused of complicity, along with Yip, in the murder of Hong Kong resident and police informer Choi Chi-hung in Shenzhen on November 27, 1995.