Missing suspect was murder ‘mastermind’

By Charlie Charalambous

POLICE believe that a second Chinese murder suspect still at large was the mastermind behind last week’s vicious double murder and remains highly dangerous.

Hundreds of officers scoured the island yesterday to try and find murder suspect Bu Hua Cheng, 22, who is believed to be in hiding and still in Cyprus.

Bu is described by police as extremely dangerous. The public have been warned not to tackle him alone.

The twenty-two-year-old was named by his compatriot Wang Yang, 21, a fellow student now in police custody.

Apparently, Yang has confessed to last week’s murder of a young Chinese couple, whose bodies were found in a ravine near Trooditissa. Police say he has named Bu as the one who planned the horrific murders in an alleged attempt to rob the victims of around $3,000.

On Sunday, Yang was taken to the flat where the attack took place and to the site where the bodies were dumped last Wednesday to assist police reconstruct the train of events.

Chinese couple Lou Jian Hui, 23 and Jiang Ming Xia, 23, were subjected to torture and sexual abuse with various objects before being strangled to death, according to forensic evidence.

During their ordeal, the victims reportedly had clothing stuffed in their mouths so their screams couldn’t be heard by neighbours.

Their bodies were then wrapped in a blanket and taken to the Troodos mountain range and thrown down a 100-metre ravine.

Police have appealed to all tourist and travel agents to assist police in their search, just in case the suspect attempts to leave the island.

It is understood that the police are in possession of his travel documents.

Limassol’s Chinese student community is said to have given vital information to the police and is actively involved in trying to find the suspect.

Police have also been in contact with the Chinese embassy in an effort to discover whether the suspects have a criminal past.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.