Taiwanese robbery suspect flees Hong Kong in echoes of Chan Tong-kai case that led to extradition bill, protest crisis
- Suspect lands in Hong Kong, steals watches worth HK$1 million at gunpoint and returns to Taiwan within 24 hours, police say
- Government source says prosecution unlikely because of city’s lack of extradition agreement with self-ruled island
A Taiwanese man who visited Hong Kong to carry out a robbery before returning to the self-ruled island that day is the second suspect to benefit from the lack of an extradition agreement between the two jurisdictions, the Post has been told.
The absence of mutual fugitive arrangements with Taiwan, as well as formal judicial cooperation, led the Hong Kong government to bring forward its ill-fated extradition bill, which triggered months of increasingly violent protests in June that continue to blight the city.
Ministers wanted to plug the loopholes highlighted by the case of Hongkonger Chan Tong-kai – the murder suspect wanted in Taiwan for killing his pregnant girlfriend Poon Hiu-wing – but was forced to back down following the fierce backlash to proposals that could have exposed city residents to opaque trials in mainland China.
In a case raising similar legal questions, the Post has been told the Taiwanese resident posed as a customer to rob the Mody Road shop in Tsim Sha Tsui, on the morning of his arrival in Hong Kong on October 6.
According to police, the man threatened a 31-year-old member of staff with what appeared to be a pistol, before snatching two watches worth HK$990,000 (US$126,000) and running out of the shop.