42 economic crime refugees surrender to Shanghai police this year

Credit: Ti Gong

Caption: Police in Baoshan District study a fraud case in which the suspect, a woman surnamed Tu, fled from the Chinese mainland in 2018.

A total of 42 refugees of economic crimes have surrendered to Shanghai police so far this year, with more than 140 million yuan (US$21 million) of illegal gains in their cases recovered.

Police on Thursday gave details about the latest results of the "Fox Hunt" campaign that has been carried out nationwide since July 2014 aiming to bring back such refugees from overseas to the Chinese mainland.

Despite the global COVID-19 pandemic, police have continued with their efforts.

In a recent case, a woman surnamed Tu who was a suspect in a 2018 investment fraud had illegally purchased a "death certificate" for herself in a Southeast Asian country, but police still managed to track her down and brought her back to China last month.

In the past eight years, 868 suspects in this category have returned or been brought back by police to Shanghai from 47 countries and regions, with about 7.7 billion yuan of illegal gains recovered, police said.

In an extreme case, a suspect fled from the Chinese mainland 27 years ago, police revealed.