Kwai Ping-hung, born around 1960 in Sanshui, Guangdong, came from the mainland to Hong Kong as a young man and became one of the territory's most feared armed robbers of the 1980s to 2000s. Ranked with Yip Kai-foon and Cheung Tsz-keung as the 'three kings of thieves', he was a leading figure of the cross-border gangster crews known as the 'Provincial and Hong Kong flag soldiers'. Active across Guangdong and Hong Kong from the 1980s, he habitually fled back to the mainland or Southeast Asia after each job, making him hard for police to catch, and he was nicknamed the 'last of the kings of thieves'. In May 1985 he and his gang robbed the Chung Shun watch shop on Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, firing twice at a display case and seizing about HK$1.8 million in valuables; a street shootout with police as they fled left eleven people injured. He went on to raid gold and jewellery shops repeatedly, including a jewellers in Yau Ma Tei in 1986, the Dickson jewellery shop in Central in 1989 and the Kam Lun watch shop in Central in 1994, stealing millions and again exchanging fire with officers near MTR stations, at times wounding passers-by. His crews deployed AK-47 rifles and hand grenades, and Kwai was skilled at disguise and in switching between false identities, repeatedly slipping through police dragnets. In May 2001 he exchanged fire with officers on a Mong Kok street, wounding two policemen before escaping, an incident that stunned the city and drove the police intelligence unit to keep tracking his associates. On Christmas Eve 2003, the Special Duties Unit stormed a flat at Man King Building on Man Wui Street in Yau Ma Tei and captured him together with a large cache of weapons and ammunition. In May 2005 the High Court convicted him of unlawfully possessing arms and of using firearms with intent to resist lawful arrest, jailing him for twenty-four years at Stanley Prison. His sentence was cut by one third for his plea and good conduct, and he walked free on 18 January 2020. Holding no right of abode in Hong Kong, he was escorted out by police and immigration officers the same day and deported to New York under a US passport obtained in a false name.
Kwai's armed raids and street shootouts terrified jewellers and shopkeepers, and his capture marked the end of the era of heavily armed cross-border robbers. The case also showed how years of intelligence work, combined with a Flying Tigers assault, could bring down an organised gang.
Achievements
- 1985 · Masterminded the armed robbery of the Chung Shun watch shop on Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, seizing about HK$1.8 million and triggering a street shootout that left eleven people injured.
- 2001 · Exchanged fire with police in Mong Kok, wounding two officers before escaping, becoming one of the territory's most wanted men.
- 2003 · Was captured by the Special Duties Unit storming a Yau Ma Tei flat on Christmas Eve, with a large haul of weapons seized.
- 2005 · Was convicted by the High Court of unlawful possession of arms and other charges and jailed for twenty-four years.