Self-declared agent is a convicted fraud, police say

SHANGHAI－A Chinese man who was reported by some foreign media to have worked as a secret agent and then defected, is a convicted fraud and wanted suspect, Shanghai police said Saturday.

Wang Liqiang, 26, is a native of Nanping, Fujian province, and was sentenced to one year and three months in prison for fraud by the court in Guangze county, Fujian, in October 2016, with the sentence suspended for a year and half, a police statement said.

On April 19, Shanghai police opened an investigation into Wang, who allegedly cheated a person surnamed Shu out of 4.6 million yuan ($654,000) in February through a fake investment scheme involving imported cars, the statement said.

Wang left for Hong Kong on April 10, carrying a fake Chinese passport and a fake Hong Kong permanent resident ID, it added.

Shanghai police said they are still investigating the case.

Wang was reported by some foreign media, including The Sydney Morning Herald, to have defected to Australia and confessed that he had worked as a secret agent in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

According to the reports, he claimed that he held a Chinese passport, a Hong Kong permanent resident ID and a South Korean passport under the name Wang Qiang.