A 34-year-old man wanted for an armed robbery and open fire case was returned to the Hong Kong Police (HKP) from the Mainland today (September 30). The case occurred in the morning of September 9, 1993 in which three men armed with pistols together with a knife dashed into a bank at 12 Cameron Road in Tsim Sha Tsui and declared robbery. They snatched away about $1.5 million worth of Hong Kong and the US currency before they fled by the rear exit of the bank. They eventually confronted some Police officers on Cameron Road outside the bank where they exchanged fire with the officers. A sergeant attached to the Emergency Unit of Kowloon West Region was shot on his face and a Police Constable from the Task Force of Tsim Sha Tsui Division was shot in his left ankle while one of the culprits, a 30-year-old man, was also shot down by the officers. When the other two culprits reached the junction of Cameron Road and Nathan Road where a Police vehicle was stopped, another 30-year-old culprit was shot down by the officers while the remaining one managed to escape. All the lost property, two 7.62 calibres pistols and a crude hoax bomb put on the bank counter were recovered. During the incident, three men and three women were also injured. The two culprits were later certified dead in hospital while the two injured officers were discharged from hospital in September and December 1993. Police investigations had successfully identified the remaining culprit who left for China on the same day of the robbery. Further enquiries revealed that the man might have hidden in Tsing Tao in 2000 and a request was submitted to the Mainland Public Security Bureau (PSB) for assistance. The escaped culprit was subsequently arrested by the PSB officers in Tsing Tao on September 17 this year and was returned to the HKP. He was being detained by the Regional Crime Unit of Kowloon West for further enquiries. A Police spokesman said the handing over of the suspect to Hong Kong indicated that the success of close co-operation between the HKP and the law enforcement authorities in the Mainland in combating crimes. |