File photo: VCG

Police in South China's Guangdong Province announced the successful extradition of an economic fugitive in Greece on Thursday, hailing it as a milestone for the provincial police in tracking down and capturing suspects overseas.

Guangdong police' arrest of the suspect, surnamed Zheng, who escaped to Greece in August 2017 after allegedly defrauding local residents by pretending to pay his victims high-interest returns between December 2013 and June 2016, marked its first successful extradition from Europe since a campaign codenamed liehu, or "Fox Hunt," was launched, according to a police statement. 

Zheng was the man allegedly behind a Guangzhou-based investment firm called Xinhua Caifu Co, Shanghai-based news site thepaper.cn reported on Sunday. The company's faulty practices were reported to local police in September 2017. 

 The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) issued a Red Notice on Zheng in July 2018, at the request of the Interpol China National Central Bureau.

Zheng was arrested by Greek police on August 3 last year in response to the Red Notice, and Chinese police then sent an extradition request to the Greek side through diplomatic channels, which was approved by the Greek side in April. 

The extradition reflects the resolute attitude of law enforcement organs of China and Greece in fighting crimes and warned fugitives abroad to surrender, the report quoted police as saying.

Liang Shuying, a law expert at the China University of Political Science and Law, said that although there is no extradition treaty between China and Greece, the case would be demonstrative for the China-Europe international law enforcement cooperation.

Global Times