Abby Choi murder: 7th suspect arrested in mainland China, taken back to Hong Kong

HONG KONG — A Hong Kong woman accused of arranging a boat in an attempt to help a suspect in the brutal murder of model Abby Choi Tin-fung flee the city has been arrested in mainland China, becoming the seventh person detained in a case that has shocked the world, the Post has learned.

The suspect, 29, was handed over to Hong Kong police at a border control point on Tuesday (March 7), a source familiar with the case said.

He said the woman was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender in relation to the 28-year-old socialite’s killing, adding that she was a friend of Choi’s ex-husband Alex Kwong Kong-chi.

“She was suspected of helping to arrange a boat to help the victim’s ex-husband’s attempt to flee the city,” the source said.

Hong Kong police sought help from their mainland counterparts to track down the woman after learning that she had left the city for neighbouring Guangdong province.

The source said the woman was arrested in Shenzhen. After being handed over to detectives from the Kowloon West regional crime unit at a border checkpoint, the suspect was escorted to Tin Shui Wai Police Station.

She was the third person arrested for assisting an offender in the case, which first came to light on February 24.

One of the trio, a 41-year-old man, was charged on Monday with assisting an offender but was granted bail after appearing in court.

The other was a 47-year-old woman who was accused of helping Kwong evade police. She has been released on bail pending further investigation.

The grisly case was uncovered when officers found body parts belonging to Choi, who had been reported missing, in the ground-floor flat of a three-storey house in Tai Po’s Lung Mei Tsuen.

Police found two pots containing a skull and several ribs, alongside meat cleavers, a hammer, face shields, black raincoats and a purple handbag that belonged to Choi at the Tai Po flat. Two female legs were also found in a refrigerator.

DNA tests later confirmed the skull and legs were Choi’s, the Post learned.

Her torso and hands are still missing.

The model’s ex-husband, 28, alongside his 65-year-old father Kwong Kau, 63-year-old mother Jenny Li Sui-heung and brother Anthony Kwong Kong-kit, 31, were earlier charged in connection with Choi’s murder and remanded in custody without bail.

The four will return to Kowloon City Court on May 8.

Police last week mounted a three-day search for the socialite’s missing remains at a landfill site in Ta Kwu Ling after a check of security footage suggested someone had disposed of some bags at a refuse collection point.

The force said they suspected the bags could contain Choi’s missing body parts, her clothing and mobile phone, as well as murder weapons. But the force uncovered no further evidence after completing a search of the targeted area.

A day after discovering some of Choi’s remains at the village house on February 24, the force also searched Junk Bay Chinese Permanent Cemetery, with members of its abseiling team, its elite Special Duties Unit known as the “Flying Tigers” and police dogs joining the effort.

Police began investigating the socialite’s disappearance after she was reported missing on the night of February 21.

The mother of four was last seen at a luxury housing estate in the city’s exclusive Kadoorie Hill neighbourhood in Ho Man Tin on the same day. Her ex-husband, his parents and elder brother also lived in the area.

A review of CCTV footage showed she was picked up at the estate in a seven-seater car driven by her former brother-in-law, who worked as her chauffeur. SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST