Taiwan deports criminal suspects to Hong Kong

Press, 13 April 1984, Page 29

Taiwan deports criminal suspects to Hong Kong

NZPA staff correspondent

Hong Kong The Nationalist Chinese Government on Taiwan has returned wanted men to Hong Kong for the first time since Britain extended diplomatic recognition to China in 1950.

Legal observers in Hong Kong described the move as a breakthrough with major implications for the opening of further channels between Hong Kong and Taiwan police, and the closing of the favourite escape route for Hong Kong criminals.

There was no extradition involved in the recent return of five men wanted for questioning by Hong Kong police in connection with a robbery and murder in Hong Kong in 1982. The five men were among 10 criminals described by the Taiwanese authorities as persona non grata and deported.

Taiwan has no extradition treaty with Hong Kong,

which has enabled a number of criminals from the British dependent territory, and some 40 former policemen suspected of corruption offences, to remain safe from arrest and questioning. Legal observers said that there must have been some kind of ad hoc agreement between Taiwanese and Hong Kong authorities for the return of the men.

The men were reported to have arrived heavily manacled and escorted by Taiwan police officers and men from Hong Kong Airport’s security unit who handed the suspects over to officers of the serious and organised crime squad. The 10 men were believed to be among 14 people detained by Taipei authorities for illegal entry to Taiwan from Hong Kong.

The first five men to return were reported by Taiwan’s “Central Daily News” to include a leader of the Big Circle gang, Wong

Chi-Ming, who, with an armed group of from six to nine men, was suspected of taking part in a jewellery shop robbery in May, 1982, which resulted in the death of the proprietor.

Wong and a number of other suspects were thought to have entered Taiwan in July, 1982, after being landed by freighter on a beach. They were later deteained in Taipei.

Wong was described as the best known of the Big Circle gang, the loose description for what newspapers in Hong Kong called “unsavoury” characters who have banded together to commit crimes after recently arriving in Hong Kong from China.

Many recent arrivals who have turned to crime in Hong Kong were reported to have had quasi-military backgrounds dating back to the chaos of China’s Cultural Rvolution.