Police in the city of Jinhua in Zhejiang province managed to snare a fugitive from a concert crowd of 50,000. If not for the wonders of artificial intelligence and facial recognition technology, this would have never happened.
According to South China Morning Post, the snatching incident happened at a show by Jacky Cheung Hok-yau. The latter is deemed as one of the titular "Four Heavenly Kings" of Hong Kong's music scene.
The arrest was considered one of a number in months of May and June, particularly at Cheung's concerts across the country. Interestingly, the incident resulted in social media users dubbing the renowned singer the "fugitive catcher".
Apparently, the fate of these suspects could have been quite different. If they had the opportunity to make their way inside the borders of the country's two special administrative regions, both of which are separate jurisdictions, then it would have been a different outcome.
It holds true that the legal systems in Hong Kong and Macau are admirable. But as far as recent events and trends are concerned, the capture - and even the return - of individuals on the run have highlighted what seems to be a veil being draped over due process in the handling of foreign criminals.
In the case of Hong Kong, in particular, there have been dozens of questions raised regarding the workings and number of bilateral agreements with other jurisdictions. These are all aimed at the surrender of fugitives, including sensitive matters circling mutual legal assistance, Yahoo! News reports.
The number of fugitives from justice either surrendered to or by the city under international treaties has dramatically spiraled down over the last two decades. These all came to light after the metro returned to Chinese sovereignty.
Also on collapse since 1997 is the rate and number of agreements that the city signed with overseas jurisdictions. These are basically meant to formalize international cooperation in the never-ending battle against crime. The discoveries are reportedly based on publicly available data, as justice officials have declined to disclose full figures regardless of several requests.
Take for example the period between 1997 and 2002. There were about 31 fugitives caught in Hong Kong, but according to the official data, these suspects were returned to the country seeking them. Over the same period, there were at least 12 fugitives from the city justice returned after being caught in foreign jurisdictions.
As for the more than a nine-year period between 2008 and last year, the equivalent figures were said to be 23 and 11. This is a definitive drop according to experts.
Professor Fu Hualing, from the law faculty at the University of Hong Kong, was quoted saying, "The story you are telling is significant. This information is quite exciting and certainly new. We are not sending that many [fugitives] out and people are not sending [fugitives] back either." He then ends his statement: "The big question is, why the decline?"
