Hong Kong police believe three men and a woman fled to Taiwan after the victim’s body was found in an industrial building; five others were arrested in Hong Kong
ALLEN AU-YEUNG AND DANNY MOK
UPDATED : Sunday, 10 April, 2016, 9:41pm
A suspect is taken to Tsuen Wan police station in connection with the murder case in the area. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Taiwan may deploy a special task force to ask the main suspect linked to the body-in-the-cement
murder case in Hong Kong to leave after his visa expires on Monday, Taiwanese authorities told local media on Sunday.
But a spokesman for the National Immigration Agency in Taiwan told local newspaper United Daily News on Sunday that the Hongkonger could not be treated as a suspect in the murder case because the relevant authorities in Taiwan had yet to receive any warrant notification from Hong Kong police.
As a result, the spokesman said the suspect could only be treated as a tourist who overstayed if he failed to leave Taiwan by 12 midnight on Sunday, when his visa expires.
According to the spokesman, if a foreigner overstays, the person will be asked to leave and could be fined NT$2,000 (HK$478) for overstaying for 10 days or less.
However, there are no details of the task force, including who would be involved and why such a body would be needed to deal with a case of overstaying.
Four Hongkongers – three men and a woman – are suspected by Hong Kong police to have fled to Taiwan in connection with the case in which a badly decomposed body was found inside a cement-filled box in a flat at an industrial building in Tsuen Wan on March 29.
There is no extradition agreement between Hong Kong and Taiwan. Grenville Cross, a former director of public prosecutions, has said the lack of such a mechanism was a huge obstacle to securing the return of the suspects.
Last week, a source confirmed to the Post that Hong Kong police had sought help from their counterparts in Taiwan, but the force had no plans to send their own officers to Taiwan.
The four suspects are believed to have been under close surveillance by Taiwanese police since their arrival on the island on March 11.
The dead man inside the box is believed to be 28-year-old Cheung Man-li, who is thought to have died from suffocation. Strangulation was ruled out as no injuries were found on his neck, according to a source.
Cheung was last seen entering the Fui Yiu Kok Street industrial building in Tsuen Wan on March 4. His girlfriend reported him missing two days later.
The badly decomposing body was found on March 29 encased in a cement block one metre long, one metre wide and half a metre high. It took firefighters several hours to crack open the cement block.
The Hong Kong police, who are still investigating the case, think Cheung might have been killed when he went to the flat to demand payment of a HK$1 million debt.
Five Hongkongers aged 16 to 26 were arrested in Hong Kong on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder after the body was found. They have since been released on bail.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1935074/special-taiwan-task-force-may-be-set-deal-expulsion-hong
