VADODARA: Ten years after he fled from Vadodara police’s custody, drug dealer Xie Jeng Pang alias Richard was arrested by the cops.
A team of city police officials took custody of Richard from Hong Kong and brought him to Vadodara on Thursday.
Richard, who has origins in China but is a Canadian citizen, will be produced before the court on Friday.
According to the police, after fleeing from the city on April 28, 2011, Richard went to Nepal.
He was arrested by the Nepal police but he again fled from their custody and flew to Canada where he got a bogus passport.
He used this passport to fly down to Hong Kong.
“Richard was then held in a money laundering case in Hong Kong and was jailed for four years in 2012.
When the city police learnt about his arrest in Hong Kong, we began the process for his extradition,” the police said.
A proper appeal to extradite Richard was made through the Ministry of External Affairs in 2015 and Hong Kong agreed to hand him over to India on February 7, 2018.
“Richard had appealed against the extradition order but it got rejected in May 2021.
Our team went to Hong Kong and brought him back on Thursday.
He will be handed over to NCB (Narcotics Control Bureau),” said Shamsher Singh, Vadodara police commissioner.
Richard was arrested by the NCB along with two others in 2008 on Vadodara-Ahmedabad highway with 1.5 kg of methamphetamine — a stimulant drug.
He was lodged in Vadodara central jail during the trial.
He was brought to SSG Hospital for medical treatment in April 2011 from where he escaped when the guards were having snacks at the food stalls nearby.
The escape was pre-planned as Richard fled on a motorbike that was arranged for him.
Before his escape, interrogation of Richard had led NCB to Sakhi Organics in Savli where they found 110 kg of methamphetamine.
He had convinced Kirit Shah, owner of Sakhi Organics to manufacture methamphetamine for earning quick money.
Shah too was nabbed by NCB.