Hong Kong police reveal details of couple detained by mainland authorities after being kidnapped to China
Revelations of how three men kidnapped a Hong Kong businessman and his wife across the border to mainland China and left them tied up to be ‘found’ and questioned by police
While the mystery over the disappearances of bookseller Lee Bo and his colleagues remains unresolved, Hong Kong police yesterday shed details on a 2013 kidnap case where mainland police were able to arrest a businessman who was first “unlawfully detained” by three Hong Kong men in the city before being brought across the border.
The police information came amid fears among Hongkongers that mainland authorities have ways to “bypass” Hong Kong laws in doing their job, as state-run tabloid Global Times claimed in an editorial last week.
The police gave details in the case of Pun Wai-hei, otherwise known as Pan Weixi in mainland media, last night after Ming Pao published a commentary by a veteran journalist who cited newly disclosed mainland archives that Hong Kong police once conducted an inquiry into Pun’s kidnapping.
Pun, a property developer who had acquired Hong Kong permanent residency, was convicted of economic crime offences and sentenced to jail for 17 years and nine months in September last year.
While mainland press reports have mentioned Pun was “kidnapped by mainland police in Hong Kong” before his arrest, this was never confirmed by the mainland authorities.
“If they can legally do so, given the different judicial systems in Hong Kong and mainland, mainlanders will be greatly encouraged to abduct Hongkongers to the mainland...”
The South China Morning Post asked Hong Kong police whether they did have an enquiry into the purported kidnapping and whether mainland police were behind it.