Public security authorities publicly rewarded a pedicab driver
Tuesday for the tip-off that led to the capture of a university
student suspected of killing four of his classmates.
The 250,000-yuan (US$30,000) reward went to 29-year-old Chen
Xianzhuang, a part-time pedicab driver who reported seeing a man
resembling Ma Jiajue, the suspect, near a marketplace in Sanya City
Monday night. Sanya is located in China's southernmost province of
Hainan.
Chen said he heard about Ma Jiajue when the Ministry of Public
Security issued a nationwide appeal to hunt for the suspect two
weeks ago. Chen said he was driving his motorcycle past a market in
Sanya when he spotted Ma rifling through trash. Recognizing him
from the wanted posters, Chen followed the suspect for a while
before calling the police.
Ma was seized at about 7:30 PM Monday after local police
surrounded the market and conducted a search. Sanya is some 1,000
kilometers southeast of Kunming City, where the bludgeoned bodies
were found stuffed in a Yunnan University dormitory closet on
February 23.
Ma disguised himself as a beggar and tried to act the fool when
he was caught, a spokesman for the Sanya City Bureau of Public
Security said.
"Ma had with him 2,400 yuan (US$290) and an earphone when he was
seized," said Wu Riguang, a policeman with the Sanya City Bureau of
Public Security.
Ma admitted his crime during preliminary interrogations and said
in a TV interview that he had sought revenge after a quarrel with
his classmates while playing cards, according to the city public
security bureau.
Classmates and teachers described Ma, a 23-year-old biochemistry
major at Yunnan University, as introverted and with few friends on
campus.
Ma reportedly first fled to Guangdong and then made his way to
Sanya.
He was born in Binyang County of the Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region and was the youngest child in his
family, according to previous reports.
Ma was listed as chief suspect by the Chinese Ministry of Public
Security in the killings of four students whose bodies were found
stuffed in a dormitory closet at the Kunming-based Yunnan
University on Feb. 23.
The ministry issued an urgent warrant for Ma's arrest on March 1
and offered a 200,000-yuan (US$24,300) reward for information
leading to his apprehension. Sanya City authorities gave another
50,000 yuan reward to Chen Xianzhuang.
Custody of Ma was transferred Tuesday to police from Yunnan
Province, who arrived in Sanya to further investigate the
case.
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(Xinhua News Agency March 17, 2004)