Hong Kong’s most wanted: a look at police bounties offered for some of the city’s notorious crimes
- From the ‘king of thieves’ to a ‘devil cop’, high-profile cases over the decades have sparked rewards of up to HK$2 million from the force for the capture of suspects
- In the wake of the latest HK$1 million rewards for each arrest of eight suspects under the national security law, the Post takes a look at other past sums
The move, together with the court warrants for each arrest obtained by national security police, marked the first time authorities have put up bounties under the legislation since it took effect on June 30, 2020.
The Post takes a look at other police rewards offered for notorious crimes in Hong Kong through the decades.
Hong Kong national security law: police offer HK$1 million rewards for arrest of 8
HK$2 million: Kwai Ping-hung and gang members
Kwai, known as the “king of thieves”, illegally entered Hong Kong from mainland China in 1980 and was suspected of committing 20 armed robberies over three decades. He also shot and wounded two police officers in Mong Kok in May 2001.
Police posted a record HK$2 million reward for the capture of Kwai and had Interpol issue a red notice for the man in July that year.
Kwai was arrested on Christmas Eve 2003 when Special Duties Unit (SDU) officers made the biggest seizure of firearms in nearly 30 years. In 2005, Kwai was given a total jail term of 24 years. He was released from Stanley Prison in 2020 after serving 16 years behind bars and was deported to the United States as he held a US passport. He did not hold an HKID card as he was an illegal immigrant, according to local media.
The quiet and afflicted final days of a notorious Hong Kong robber
HK$1 million: Yip Kai-foon, Hong Kong’s most wanted
This was once the highest reward offered for the city’s most wanted man in 1992. Yip was involved in various crimes, including a June 1991 incident where he snatched HK$5.7 million worth of gold and jewellery from five shops in Kwun Tong.
Yip and five other robbers, armed with AK-47 assault rifles and pistols, were alleged to have fired 54 shots at police. While serving a 16-year sentence in Hong Kong for firearms offences, Yip escaped during a hospital visit in August 1989.
His criminal career came to an end in May 1996 when he was arrested again after a Kennedy Town gunfight with police that left him paralysed from the waist down. Yip died of lung cancer aged 55 in April 2017, two years before he was due to be released in August 2019.
From shoot-outs on streets to online deceptions: Hong Kong crime over decades
HK$1 million: attackers of radio host Albert Cheng
Morning talk show host Albert Cheng King-hon suffered six deep wounds when he was attacked by two men armed with steak knives as he arrived for work at Commercial Radio in August 1998. Police put up a HK$1 million reward for capture of the culprits, while Commercial Radio upped the ante with an additional HK$3 million.
The attackers were never caught, according to the last report in Chinese-language media in 2014. Police on Tuesday said they no longer had the case on file as it had been too long since the attack took place.
HK$1 million: attackers of journalist Leung Tin-wai
In May 1996, veteran journalist Leung Tin-wai was stabbed in the back at the Quarry Bay office of Chinese-language magazine Sudden Weekly just before the tabloid-style publication was to be launched.
The attackers had hacked off his left forearm and both thumbs. Leung, then 53, survived after undergoing a 17-hour operation to reattach his forearm.
Leung has always maintained he does not know the motive of his attackers. The magazine subsequently folded in 1998 due to what he said was lack of advertising income.
He retired as professor and head of journalism and communication of Hong Kong Shue Yan University in 2020.
Police offered HK$1 million as a bounty for the arrest of Leung’s assailants, who were never caught. The public, outraged by the brutality of the attack, also raised HK$5 million for information on the suspects.
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HK$2 million: ‘devil cop’
Police offered HK$1 million in December 2001 to hunt for the robber who raided a Hang Seng Bank branch at Belvedere Garden, Tsuen Wan, that same month and fled with nearly HK$500,000 before shooting and killing the security guard.
The force later believed the robber was the same man who had shot and killed police constable Leung Shing-yan when he was investigating a noise complaint in Shek Wai Kok Estate, Tsuen Wan, in March of that year. Another reward of HK$1 million was offered.
In March 2006, the suspect, Tsui Po-ko, was killed in a shoot-out with two police constables in a Jordan underpass.
Tsui, an off-duty officer at the time, was caught in a stand-off with colleagues – Constable Wilson Sin Ka-keung and Constable Tsang Kwok-hang. Ballistic evidence showed Tsui fired one bullet, which killed Tsang, but later died from five shots that the latter had fired into his torso.
Sin was the sole survivor of the incident. One bullet went through Sin’s head and impaired his eyesight, while a second punctured his left leg.
Tsui was nicknamed “devil cop” after his death, when it was revealed he had also killed Leung and the bank guard.
HK$800,000: killer of cleaner Luo Changqing
In December 2019, police offered an HK$800,000 reward for information on the killer of a 70-year-old cleaner who was fatally hit on the head by a brick during a clash between anti-government protesters and residents in Sheung Shui the previous month.
In April 2020, police arrested two teenagers in connection with the murder. The pair were later taken to Tuen Mun Court where they faced charges of rioting and wounding with intent. The two were later acquitted of involvement in Luo’s death.
Two months later in June the same year, police released photographs of 14 people wanted in connection with the murder. Police on Tuesday said there had been no updates since.
2 teens acquitted of manslaughter over janitor’s death during Hong Kong protests
HK$800,000: attackers of off-duty officer in Kwai Chung
In October 2020, police offered HK$600,000 for three masked men who stabbed a 45-year-old officer near Kwai Chung Police Station where he worked in August 2019, leaving him with four wounds to his back, right shoulder, and arms.
The bounty was later raised to HK$800,000.
Police issued three photos of the suspected attackers, thought to be aged between 20 and 30.
A police spokesman on July 4 this year said no arrests had been made so far.
HK$600,000: murderers of student Lee Wai-hou
Lee Wai-hou, 17, was attacked by three or four men in their 20s who surrounded him at a footpath under Pak Wo Road Flyover in Sheung Shui in December 2004. He sustained four stab wounds and died in a hospital. Police offered HK$300,000, later raised to HK$600,000, for the capture of the culprits.
They were never caught and the reward notice is set to expire on June 23, 2024.
Local media reports stated the motive of the murder, according to police, was unclear but suspected to be revenge, as the victim’s personal belongings were untouched.
