Hong Kong private eye Daniel Tsang 'abandoned' by Northern Irish police

A former Hong Kong policeman has been wrongly imprisoned on the mainland for his role in a sting operation intended to help Northern Irish police trap a gangster, the man's son said.

Pakko Tsang accuses authorities in Belfast of abandoning his father, Daniel Tsang Chi-fai, after he helped nail Paul "Wobbly Boots" Meehan, who was smuggling illicit cigarettes and dealing in guns and drugs.

Daniel Tsang was arrested in Qingdao, Shandong province in 2008 in connection with a shipment of counterfeit cigarettes bound for Northern Ireland as part of Operation Eclat, a sting to catch Meehan.

Tsang, 53, is serving a 10-year sentence for dealing in counterfeit cigarettes handed down in December 2010. But he claims he is the victim of a mix-up by mainland police, according to a report in the Financial Times on Friday.

Pakko Tsang, a detective, returned to Hong Kong late last night after visiting his father in a prison in Zhangzhou , Fujian province.

Pakko maintains his father's innocence and is angered by the lack of assistance from the Police Service of Northern Ireland and Japan Tobacco International, who used Tsang as a middleman in the operation to trap Meehan.