Police have opened a murder investigation into the death of a high-ranking Finnish police officer in a luxury Hong Kong hotel room after he was drugged by a mainland prostitute using the 'date-rape' pill Rohypnol.
Chief Superintendent Kari Juhani Koivuniemi, 45, of the Ministry of the Interior Police Department of Finland died of a suspected heart attack at the Island Shangri-La on January 8 after last being seen with an unidentified Asian woman.
His death has been classified as 'highly sensitive' and police have attempted to keep the investigation under wraps, a Sunday Morning Post investigation has revealed.
The murder inquiry follows an alarming rise in the number of cases of men, mainly foreigners, who claim they have been drugged and their bank accounts stripped of cash by predatory prostitutes in the Wan Chai bar district.
Officers investigating the murder seized the bank accounts of a prostitute after she fled to the mainland, where she is believed to be in hiding. It is understood they uncovered hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Senior Superintendent Stephen Lee Kwan-hing of Hong Kong Island Regional Crime Unit confirmed the suspicious death was now being treated as a murder.
'In relation to that fatal case, there will be no inquest as it is now being investigated as a homicide,' Mr Lee said. He refused to discuss any details.