BANGKOK — Thai police have arrested Mr. Zhang, a 52-year-old Chinese national who had been evading authorities for 22 years after committing a crime in Guangdong Province. After fleeing China, he lived in Vietnam and Cambodia before settling in Thailand, where he established a successful Mala restaurant business using a fake Vietnamese identity.
Zhang was apprehended on April 5 at a residential compound in the Sathorn-Ratchapruek area of Bang Chak, Phasi Charoen district, Bangkok. The arrest followed the Thai Criminal Court’s approval of an arrest warrant dated May 17, 2024, on charges of assault causing bodily harm.
Chinese authorities had requested assistance from Thai police in apprehending Zhang. He reportedly committed a crime in 2003 when he shot and seriously injured a fellow Chinese national named Zhou in Shantou City, Guangdong Province, southern China, before fleeing the country.
According to Chinese officials, Zhang hid in Vietnam and Cambodia for over 20 years before relocating to Thailand.
Investigators eventually confirmed that Zhang was hiding in Bangkok using a forged Vietnamese passport under the name Mr. Ly Thanh. He was living with his Chinese girlfriend, Ms. Deng, and together they ran several successful Mala restaurants throughout Bangkok. The couple resided in a luxury housing development along Ratchapruek Road. During the arrest, authorities confiscated his Thai driver’s license.
Zhang has confessed to the crime. He has been handed over to the Attorney General’s Office to begin extradition proceedings that will return him to China to face punishment according to legal procedures.
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