Chinese fugitive apprehended despite plastic surgery to avoid police

NANCHANG - Police in east China's Jiangxi Province said Thursday they had nabbed a fugitive in Thailand who received plastic surgery to evade police.

The fugitive, surnamed He, was captured in Pattaya on Nov. 25, shortly after he returned from a trip to Bangkok, where he received the plastic surgery, according to the police.

A local court issued an arrest warrant for He earlier in July. Jiangxi police reported to the Ministry of Public Security to have him listed on Interpol's red notices.

He was accused of illegal fundraising and embezzlement for a whopping 160 million yuan (about 25 million U.S. dollars) from January 2013 to July 2015 as the legal representative of an investment management company.

Upon meeting the fugitive face-to-face, police officers could barely recognize his facial features.

"The changes are conspicuous. He got double eyelid surgery and removed buccal fat, although his body shape remained roughly the same," a police surnamed Huang said. "Clues led us to believe that he went for laser eye surgery."

The tactic is rare but not unheard for China's international fugitives.

In the late 1990s, a famous Cantonese fugitive named Chen Manxiong bleached his skin and hid his identity, living as a successful business man in Thailand for nearly five years.