Asylum seeker accused of axe-wielding robberies totalling HK$20,000 arrested after ambush

An asylum seekersuspected of threatening staff at convenience stores with an axe before fleeing with more than HK$20,000 over an eight-day ­period this month has been arrested after a scuffle with officers in Tuen Mun.

The 32-year-old man – a street sleeper who was usually seen wandering under flyovers in Tuen Mun and Sham Shui Po – was identified in connection with three hold-ups after a team of ­detectives pored over more than 60 hours of footage from surveillance cameras.

A police source said the man had been repatriated to ­Vietnam in 2008 after he was ­arrested for entering the city ­illegally 10 years ago.

“He came to Hong Kong again and had filed a torture claim when he was arrested in 2015,” the source said.

Police said the suspect was picked up in an operation under a flyover in Tsing Chui Path in Tuen Mun on Wednesday afternoon.