China

Top suspect in China's biggest smuggling case repatriated from Canada

English.news.cn 2011-07-23 11:19:59

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Alleged smuggling kingpin Lai Changxing (C) signs a warrant issued for his arrest as he arrives at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, July 23, 2011. Lai, who is China's most-wanted smuggler, was repatriated back to China on Saturday after 12 years on the run, according to the Ministry of Public Security. Lai is accused of running a multibillion-dollar smuggling ring based in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujiang Province in the 1990s. (Xinhua/Zhang Jianxin)

VANCOUVER, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese fugitive Lai Changxing, the prime suspect in China's largest smuggling case in recent history, left here Friday for his home country under Canadian police escort.

A source who declined to be named told Xinhua that police had escorted Lai onto a civilian flight before the plane departed from Vancouver International Airport for China in the afternoon.

The repatriation, executed a day after a Canadian federal court upheld Lai's deportation order, ended Lai's fugitive life in Canada 12 years after he fled to the North American country.

Lai, 53, was the alleged mastermind of a notorious smuggling gang believed to have smuggled billions of dollars' worth of various products in the 1990s. The case is listed as the largest of its kind in China since 1949.

Since Lai's runaway, Chinese authorities had repeatedly demanded his extradition.

VANCOUVER, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Lai Changxing, a Chinese fugitive who has been in Canada for 12 years, left here on Friday for China under police escort.

The repatriation was made after a federal court upheld Lai's deportation order a day earlier, paving the way for his return to China. Full story

Most wanted fugitive to face "no more than life imprisonment"

BEIJING, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Lai Changxing, one of China's most wanted fugitives, is expected to be returned soon after 12 years in Canada, and legal experts said Friday he may face life imprisonment.

The infamous smuggling operation, which 53-year-old Lai is accused of leading, is still within the deadline for prosecution, and the judicial procedures interrupted 12 years ago by Lai's fleeing will be restarted, according to an article that cited Prof. Lin Xin of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Full story

China welcomes Canadian court's rule on deportation of Chinese fugitive

BEIJING, July 22 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday welcomed the Canadian Federal Court's decision to uphold the deportation of Lai Changxing, one of China's most wanted fugitives.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu made the remark in a statement posted on the ministry's website. Full story

Editor: Deng Shasha