Murder suspect ‘confessed to killing students’

By Andrew Adamides

BU HUA Cheng, the Chinese student suspected of being the mastermind behind the murder of a Chinese couple, was yesterday remanded in custody for eight days by Limassol District Court.

Senior Limassol CID Officer Andreas Kariolemos told the court that after his arrest, Bu had made a voluntary statement confessing to his part in the killings. The court heard he admitted that he and his alleged accomplice Wang Yang, 21, killed the couple and that their motive was robbery.

Bu, 22, was arrested on Friday night after he was found rummaging around in the basement of a private Limassol clinic. He had been on the run for eight days, and it is thought that during this time he never left Limassol, hiding during the day and coming out to forage for food at night.

He had been named by Yang as the mastermind behind the crime, and police had described him as highly dangerous. The victims, Lou Jinhui, 23, and his girlfriend Jiang Migxia, 23, were killed at their Limassol apartment, and their bodies were dumped down a ravine in the mountains.

According to Yang, he and Bu had thought the couple had $3,000 in the house, and had planned to steal it and then leave Cyprus by boat. All four were students at the same Limassol college.

A citizen’s arrest of Bu was made by National Guard Officer Polykarpas Agathocleous at around 8.40pm. Agathocleous and others tied a chain round the man’s legs to prevent him from escaping.

At the time of his arrest, Bu was described as looking “exhausted and traumatised”. He was wearing overalls and had blackened his face and hands in an attempt at camouflage.

Acting President Spyros Kyprianou yesterday personally called Agathocleous to congratulate him on his part in apprehending Bu.

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