A SUSPECTED murderer who had been on the run for 21 years was arrested recently by the police at Shenzhen Bay Checkpoint, sznews.com reported yesterday.

Border police became suspicious when the man, surnamed Chen, tried to use the passport of another Chinese national with the same surname to cross the border to Shenzhen at Shenzhen Bay Checkpoint.

Chen was then taken by the police for further investigation, during which Chen insisted that he was the owner of the passport and declined to answer relevant questions.

Information on the passport showed that Chen is from Shanxi Province. However, the police noticed that Chen has a Fujian accent. Following this clue, the police broke the deadlock and compared the electronic information on the passport the suspect held with information in their system.

Chen finally pleaded guilty to illegally using another person’s passport to conceal his true identity when substantial evidence was revealed.

The investigation confirmed that Chen had fled overseas after committing a murder in Fujian Province in 1997. Later, Chen used another identity to do business in China. On this occasion, Chen’s plan was to get married with his girlfriend in Shenzhen, the report said.

(Wang Jingli)