Queenie Law kidnap suspects may be tried in mainland China due to lack of extradition deal: legal experts

Six suspects arrested on the mainland in connection with the kidnapping of Bossini heiress Queenie Rosita Law could be tried there in the absence of an extradition deal with Hong Kong, legal experts have said.

The six were arrested in Guangdong province on Monday morning. A seventh suspect, Zheng Xingwang, was arrested in Hong Kong on Sunday night as he tried to leave for Shenzhen. He appeared in court yesterday.

Legal experts said Hong Kong had jurisdiction over the kidnapping because it took place in the city. But as the suspects might be linked to other offences relating to the planning of the alleged kidnapping, mainland authorities could prosecute them and not hand them to Hong Kong.

Legislator James To Kun-sun, who is also a lawyer, said yesterday it was unlikely the mainland would hand the suspects, who are mainlanders, to Hong Kong because there was no extradition agreement between the two.

"Mainlanders won't be handed to Hong Kong just because they committed a crime in Hong Kong," he said.

Another legislator, Paul Tse Wai-chun, agreed that without an extradition agreement, there was little Hong Kong could do to suspects who crossed the border.

But To said there was an arrangement under which the mainland would "expel" suspects from Hong Kong back to the city at the request of Hong Kong police. An example was the two main suspects in last year's attack on former chief editor Kevin Lau Chun-to.