Fugitive wanted for 14 years repatriated from Indonesia with local help

Taipei, Nov. 30 (CNA) A Taiwanese fugitive convicted of murder in 2000 who spent more than a decade hiding in Indonesia under an assumed identity was repatriated to Taiwan on Friday, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said Saturday.

The 47-year-old man, surnamed Lai (賴), was recently flagged by Indonesia's Directorate General of Immigration as a suspicious foreign national and reported to the CIB's office in Indonesia, the CIB said in a news release.

After identifying him to be Lai, Indonesian and Taiwanese authorities collaborated and arrested him on Wednesday in Jakarta.

Lai was involved in a 1999 brawl and stabbing case in Taipei's Tianmu region that resulted in one killed and two injured, the news release said.

In 2000, Lai was sentenced to 11 years and two months in prison for homicide, and continued to receive heavy sentences after multiple appeals.

To evade imprisonment, he fled Taiwan in March 2011 and became wanted by the Shilin District Prosecutors Office. He was then listed as a major wanted fugitive by the Supreme Prosecutors Office in 2024, according to the news release.