A man lying injured in Queen Mary Hospital after a frenzied pre-dawn shootout with police has been identified as Yip Kai-foon - Hong Kong's most wanted man.
Police said fingerprinting had confirmed his identity.
Yip, 31, was believed to have run out of money on the mainland and may have been planning raids on banks or jewellery shops with powerful weapons and explosives.
Security at the custodial ward was immediately stepped up with the deployment of armed officers wearing bullet-proof vests. Yip escaped from the same hospital in 1989 while serving an 18-year prison term.
Senior Superintendent Trevor Oakes, from Hong Kong Island's regional crime wing, said he was delighted by Yip's arrest.
A reward of $1 million had been posted for the successful capture of Yip, who is suspected of being involved in a series of violent jewellery shop robberies in 1991 and 1992. In raids in Kwun Tong and Shamshuipo, AK-47 assault rifles were fired by robbers who got away with $8.7 million worth of goods.