Man's body found in suitcase in Pat Heung
The body of a man was found stuffed and locked in a large suitcase yesterday morning in a Pat Heung village.
The man, whose identity and age have yet to be established, was believed to have been dead for about 24 hours and the body had started to decompose in the heat before the case was found at about 7.30am.
Police said the suitcase was abandoned in bushes by the roadside at Tsat Sing Kong village in Pat Heung in the northwestern New Territories.
A police officer at the scene said a woman passer-by had found the case and called police.
The 61-centimetre-wide, 91cm-long red suitcase was sealed with a number lock. Officers used a cutter to slice open the case.
Police cordoned off the crime scene, using shields to block the area from view and tents as a temporary base.
Forensics specialists were called in to scour the scene for evidence, while officers and police dogs mounted a search in the area.
Police have so far said little about the body, including whether it was dismembered.
Officers also visited residents in the village seeking witnesses and information on the death, including whether they had seen anyone carrying a large case.
They also opened bags of rubbish dumped at a refuse collection point in the village, sifting through the waste for anything related to the case.
Local residents said the Pat Heung area was popular among ethnic minorities such as South Asians and there were some recycling yards operating near the village where South Asians were employed.
The man's body was taken to Fu Shan mortuary in Sha Tin in the afternoon by workers from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, pending a post-mortem examination.
It is not the first case of a body being found in a suitcase in Hong Kong. In June 2007, the body of businesswoman Ip Sau-fan was found inside a suitcase abandoned in a manhole in Stanley. A man was arrested in connection with the death two months later at the Lo Wu checkpoint as he returned from the mainland.
The blindfolded body of a woman was discovered stuffed inside a suitcase left in bushes near Pok Wai South Road in Yuen Long in August 2004.
Suitcases have also been used by smugglers to sneak people across the border. In 2002, an Indian man was arrested for smuggling a Pakistani man in a suitcase through the Lo Wu checkpoint into Hong Kong on Boxing Day. He was convicted and jailed for 16 months in 2003. The Regional Crime Unit of New Territories North is investigating the latest case and urged witnesses to contact investigating officers on 3661 3363.
