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In the early hours of the morning, several police officers from the National Police Headquarters of an African country raided a textile factory on the outskirts of the country's capital. They quickly broke through the armed guards holding AK-47 automatic rifles in the factory, captured a red-notice fugitive wanted by the Chinese police, and took him to a special detention center of the National Police Headquarters for temporary detention.

This happened in June last year. Dai Mounuo, a red-notice fugitive, fled overseas for nine years on suspicion of illegally absorbing public deposits.

While on the run, he opened a factory in an African country and hired local armed forces to guard his home 24 hours a day. He declared: "The Chinese police can't do anything to me, and I will not return to China to surrender."

When Dai was arrested, he was very surprised and arrogant, and refused to cooperate. It was not until he was escorted to the airport and sent back to China that he finally realized that the situation was hopeless, and his attitude changed from arrogant to panic and silent.

Previously, there was no precedent for cooperation between China and the country in pursuit of fugitives. Dai Mounuo is the first red-notice fugitive successfully recovered by my country from the country, which also accumulated successful experience for subsequent cooperation.

After returning to China, he was sentenced to five years in prison and fined 200,000 yuan.

Red Notice fugitive Dai Mounuo (center) had fled overseas for nine years.

The textile boss on the red notice list

Dai Mounuo dropped out of junior high school and once opened a textile company in his hometown. He said that he started his business in the textile industry and had business dealings with Africa as early as the 1990s. In 2004, he also opened a textile investment company in Africa, which later developed into the largest Chinese-funded enterprise in the country's textile industry. When it was first established, there were 200 to 300 employees, and later it grew to more than 1,500.

According to the promotional materials of this textile investment company, the company's factory area is about 50,000 square meters, and the newly built four-story office building covers an area of ​​about 3,000 square meters. The reason for setting up a factory in Africa is that "the local labor costs, energy costs and environmental protection costs are relatively low, the net profit is high, and the company's profit margin is relatively large."

In August 2013, Dai Mounuo registered and established an e-commerce company in Huangpu District, Shanghai. The following month, without obtaining permission from relevant state departments and without the qualifications to absorb deposits, Dai Mounuo hired others to establish an online platform to engage in P2P investment and financial management business. Through online posts and offline leaflets, he promoted and recommended financial products to the public on the grounds of investment enterprises, promising to return the principal upon maturity and pay high interest ranging from 12% to 36% annualized rate of return.

Investors come from many places across the country. In order to gain their trust, Dai Mounuo's company in Africa became a signboard for external publicity.

Zhu Mouwen, who once served as the company's general manager, said that in addition to online investors who registered accounts with real names and bound accounts on the company's online platform, the company also developed offline investors. When he received offline investors, he would introduce them to Dai Mounuo, who had local businesses in Africa, real estate and businesses in China, and had financial strength. Offline investors directly signed contracts with Dai Mounuo, and the funds were directly deposited into Dai Mounuo's personal account, which was guaranteed to be used for the operation of the African company.

Investor Sun Jun browsed the company's investment projects on the website and invested more than 1 million yuan in the platform. In February 2015, Dai invited him to visit the textile factory he operated in Africa. He saw that there was really a factory there. Although he did not understand the actual operation situation, he believed in the other party's ability to repay. Two months later, Dai's wife Li contacted him, saying that the African factory had financial difficulties and borrowed hundreds of thousands of yuan from him in the short term, and Li promised to repay the principal and interest.

However, when the due date came, Li did not repay the debt on time. The offline loan totaled more than 700,000 yuan, but Li only paid tens of thousands of yuan.

In fact, as early as the end of 2014, Dai had left Shanghai and fled to Africa. Dai's wife, Li, has been the company's supervisor and in charge of the company's financial affairs. After Dai went abroad, she managed the platform's funds in and out, checked relevant reports, paid investors, delivered platform bidding documents, and solicited investors in China according to her husband's remote control. When there were difficulties in paying, but before the capital chain was completely broken, Li also set off and fled to Africa.

The former cashier of Dai Mounuo's company stated that some of the investors shown on the platform were actually fake. In order to fill up the bids and create the illusion that the product sales were very good, Li arranged for people to operate virtual accounts to recharge and pretend.

As of December 2015, the platform had illegally raised more than 160 million yuan from nearly 1,500 investors, causing economic losses of more than 17 million yuan. According to Dai Mounuo's confession, the raised funds were controlled by him and were not used for the purpose he promised.

At the beginning of 2016, investors successively went to the Huangpu Branch of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau to report that their investment products in Dai Mounuo's company were overdue and not redeemed. After the initial investigation, the Huangpu police opened an investigation into Dai Mounuo and others for suspected illegal absorption of public deposits.

Li Bai, inspector of the Economic Investigation Brigade of the Huangpu Branch of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau, told China Newsweek that at the time, Dai Mounuo wanted to raise funds through an online platform. Without obtaining a national financial license, he promised high returns through various public publicity methods, thereby absorbing huge amounts of funds from the public in disguise, seriously disrupting the financial order. His actions are suspected of illegally absorbing public deposits.

In August 2018, the Huangpu District Procuratorate approved the arrest of Dai. In April 2019, the police learned of Dai's whereabouts in Africa, and immediately asked the Ministry of Public Security to coordinate with Interpol to issue a red notice for Dai and organize overseas pursuit.

Foreign parties agree to assist in arrest

Although he fled to Africa, thousands of miles away, Dai Mounuo still lived in anxiety and panic. From February 2016 to April 2018, he served a sentence in the local area for tax-related issues, which also exacerbated his panic.

"I wanted to invite some technical staff from China to work in my company in Africa, but some of them were unwilling to come after they knew I was a red notice fugitive. They said I was a liar," said Dai Mounuo.

In 2021, Dai Mounuo tried to escape to a country in West Asia by smuggling, intending to spend a lot of money to invest in immigration and hide his identity in the country. But to his surprise, he was arrested by the local police as soon as he landed.

After receiving the notification that Dai Mounuo had been arrested, the Shanghai police asked the Ministry of Public Security to send a request to the local law enforcement department to bring Dai Mounuo back to China as soon as possible. However, just as the relevant preparations were underway, the Shanghai police received a notification that Dai Mounuo had illegally escaped back to Africa.

Afterwards, the Shanghai police requested the Ministry of Public Security to coordinate with the relevant law enforcement departments of a certain African country to carry out the pursuit work. The foreign party responded that the country had never arrested economic crime suspects who fled from China before, so this bilateral police cooperation faced many "first-time" problems.

Through international police cooperation channels, the Shanghai police provided detailed evidence to the police of that country. Dai Mounuo is a fugitive on the Red Notice list. His illegal crime of absorbing public deposits in China has caused huge losses to a large number of investors, with serious consequences. Moreover, his identity in the local area is not legal. After strict review, the police of that country agreed to cooperate with China on the case of Dai Mounuo.

It is worth noting that Dai and his wife had conflicts during their long escape in Africa. Li was homesick, and until May 18, 2023, Li took the initiative to return to China from Africa and surrender.

The countdown to the arrest of Dai Mounuo has also begun. The Economic Investigation Corps of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau is responsible for coordinating the business guidance of the city's "Fox Hunting" operation. The detective in charge of the case told China News Weekly that in order to promote the local police to arrest Dai Mounuo, the Shanghai police did a lot of work in the country in the early stage.

However, even though the domestic preparations were in place, the working group members still felt anxious. The chief police officer of the Economic Investigation Brigade of the Huangpu Branch of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau told China News Weekly that at that time, a large-scale conflict had just occurred in the country, and Dai Mounuo's factory was far away from the city, and there were armed men with AK-47s nearby.

Dai Mounuo also hired more than 30 local people as security guards to patrol the factory 24 hours a day. Some of these security guards are local retired soldiers and are allowed to carry guns.

All of this increases the difficulty of arresting Dai. Moreover, traveling to Africa, thousands of miles away, the local climate, geography, culture and other aspects are different from those in China. After arriving at the destination, can he adapt to such changes as soon as possible? Will he suffer from acclimatization and even cause adverse reactions in his body? Dai has lived and done business in the local area for many years. He has many informants and a wide network of contacts. When he is brought to justice, will his local circle affect his successful escort back to China, causing variables and causing this operation to fail?

6 days and 5 nights of fierce battle

On June 26, 2023, the working group flew to the country's capital. After landing, the working group went directly to the General Police Headquarters to pay a visit to the Director General. The Director General attached great importance to this law enforcement cooperation. After listening to the introduction of the case, he immediately decided to send personnel from the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the General Police Headquarters to carry out the operation.

The director also said that the relevant evidence materials prepared by the Chinese side were very detailed and provided strong support for the arrest work.

The police officer in charge of the Economic Investigation Brigade of the Huangpu Branch of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau said that the country's police also made a lot of preparations in advance and chose the most appropriate time to carry out the operation. In the early morning of June 28, 2023, local time, the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the General Police Department launched a raid on Dai Mounuo's residence in his factory. The police quickly broke through the armed guards, successfully controlled Dai Mounuo, and took him to a special detention center for temporary detention.

After being arrested, Dai Mounuo refused to cooperate and said that he would never return to China. In the "Fox Hunt" operation, every detail may have an impact on the outcome of the operation. In order to prevent changes, the working group did not dare to slack off and made every effort to push the foreign party to approve the transfer of Dai Mounuo and escort him back to China as soon as possible. In the end, the director agreed to hand over Dai Mounuo to China and personally coordinated with the relevant departments of the country to handle the specific matter.

On June 30, 2023, local time, the working group learned that the country had confirmed that Dai Mounuo would be handed over to China, and immediately booked a flight for that evening. However, with years of experience in "Fox Hunting", each member of the working group understands that emergencies may occur at any time abroad, and they cannot relax for a moment.

Tension, excitement, torment, anticipation, time passed, and each member of the working group anxiously waited for the handover to arrive. When the country's law enforcement officers escorted Dai Mounuo to the airport and completed the handover with the working group, the working group members breathed a sigh of relief, and at this time Dai Mounuo finally felt that the situation was hopeless, and his attitude changed from arrogant to panic and silent.

After an 11-hour flight, Dai Mounuo was escorted back to China.

Even if you change your appearance, you can’t escape the law

On February 28 this year, the Huangpu District People's Procuratorate filed a public prosecution against Dai and Li for illegally absorbing public deposits with the Huangpu District People's Court. On May 22, Dai was sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of 200,000 yuan at the first instance; Li was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, and a fine of 50,000 yuan at the first instance.

Shanghai police revealed that Dai had not yet paid 14 million yuan before the court trial. Dai said that his factories in Africa are currently managed by local shareholders. After serving his sentence, he will raise funds to give investors an explanation.

Compared with Dai Mounuo who attempted to escape to another country and hide his identity, some fugitives have various ways to evade pursuit.

It is understood that among the nearly 1,000 fugitives recovered during the 10 years of the "Fox Hunting Operation", many had tried to evade capture by traveling to many countries and changing their identities illegally to avoid detection. Some suspects tried to hide their identities and get away with it by changing their names, forging death certificates, or even impersonating earthquake and tsunami victims.

CCTV once reported a case in which a female fugitive attempted to "fake her death" to escape.

In 2016, Tu, the legal representative of a Shanghai company, secretly used two properties of his "godmother" Ms. Zhu as collateral to obtain a loan of 10 million yuan. Tu also introduced a so-called new energy vehicle investment project to Ms. Zhu, saying that the annualized rate of return of the project could reach 15%. Out of trust in their "goddaughter", Ms. Zhu and her husband took out 2 million yuan in savings to invest, but they did not expect that when the contract expired, the "goddaughter" lost contact. Ms. Zhu and her husband then discovered that their "goddaughter" was a liar.

In 2017, Tu's company failed to repay the loan, and the bank contacted Ms. Zhu and wanted to take away the two houses under her name.

After the Shanghai Baoshan police opened a case for investigation, they found out that the above investment project mentioned by Tu was completely fictitious. Tu used the investment money from Ms. Zhu and her husband to repay personal debts and squander it. Surprisingly, when the police were about to take further measures against Tu, Tu's mother brought a "death certificate" stating that Tu accidentally fell down a hillside while traveling in a Southeast Asian country and died after having a high fever for several days.

The task force found that Tu's family then left the country and went to Southeast Asia, and there was no record of their entry. The task force reported the situation to the Economic Investigation Corps of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau and requested the Ministry of Public Security to coordinate with the country's law enforcement agencies to conduct an investigation.

The local police found out that in order to evade investigation, Tu spent money to illegally purchase a death certificate for himself, and then "changed his appearance" to obtain a false local identity. In early 2021, local law enforcement agencies arrested Tu and sentenced him to punishment.

In August 2022, Tu was repatriated. After being arrested, Tu confessed to the crime. She confessed that in addition to defrauding Ms. Zhu and her husband, she also owed about 30 million yuan in debt. In order to escape the debt, she went to a Southeast Asian country in an attempt to "fake her death and get away."

In March 2023, Tu was sentenced to 13 years in prison and a fine of RMB 170,000 by the Baoshan District People's Court of Shanghai for contract fraud and insurance fraud. In November of the same year, Tu's mother Xia was sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of RMB 50,000 by the Baoshan District People's Court for insurance fraud.

Published in the 1150th issue of China Newsweek magazine on July 29, 2024

Magazine title: Red Notice fugitives brought back to Africa