Victim spent days in dark cave before release; police continue search for 5 other accomplices
Police in Hong Kong have arrested one suspect in the abduction of the heiress of an apparel chain's founder, and the rest of the gang is thought to be hiding in the city's hilly countryside.
Hong Kong's new Commissioner of Police, Stephen Lo Wai-chung, announced the arrest at his first news conference on Monday morning without providing details. Police sources later offered a fuller picture to the media.
The suspect, a 29-year-old mainland resident surnamed Zheng, was stopped in returning mainland holiday crowd late on Sunday night at the border control station for Shenzhen's Luohu district.
Zheng, who has a history of burglaries, is said to be one of the two suspects shown in photos released earlier by the police. He was not disguised when he showed the immigration officer his two-way permit. No valuables were found in his belongings.
On April 25, a gang of six broke into a mansion near Clear Water Bay Road in the Sai Kung district, abducting Queenie Rosita Law, 29, after taking valuables worth HK$2 million ($258,000).
Law's father is real estate investor Raymond Law Ka-kui, and her grandfather, Law Ting-pong, founded Hong Kong's street apparel chain Bossini. Law is a graduate of Central Saint Martins art school in London. She now runs an art production house.
According to the police, the blindfolded Law was kept in a cave on a hilltop half an hour's walk from the mansion. One of the gang carried her piggyback down the hill on Tuesday for release after her family paid a ransom of HK$28 million. An aggressive manhunt followed.
Traumatic experience
Law said at a news conference on Thursday that she was still recovering from the traumatic experience, and the ongoing investigation prevented her from detailing her ordeal.
The media reported on Monday that the police objected to the news conference over concerns for Law's safety, since she had seen the abductors' faces before being blindfolded. She spent three days at the hilltop hideout in total darkness.
With most of the suspects still at large and the ransom missing, the manhunt in Hong Kong remains in full swing. Police told media that they believe at least some of the five gang members are still hiding in Hong Kong's woods. Helicopters have been deployed in the search.
It is unclear whether the suspects may have managed to illegally cross the border back to the mainland. Lo, the police commissioner, said mainland authorities have been alerted for a potential cross-border manhunt.
