The Chinese national, Liyan Chen, reported missing on February 22nd by his wife, is said to be in China already, according to information received by the Bureau of Public Safety.
A letter was delivered anonymously to the Office of the Minister of Justice, and it said that Mr. Liyan Chen was no longer missing and was in China. The letter was handed over to the police investigators.
Chen’s roommate, a Chinese lady, allegedly went to the police and told the criminal investigators that Mr. Chen was already in China and there was no need for further investigation. Also, the Chinese woman claiming to be Mr. Chen’s wife went to Criminal Investigation Division (CID) and reported that her husband was alive in China.
Despite the letter, the Attorney General and Acting Director of BPS Ernestine Rengiil said that the police are still investigating how Mr. Chen left the country. There are no Immigration records of Mr. Liyan Chen leaving Palau.
Island Times sources say that the letter was delivered by Mr. Chen’s former employer Camsek Chin but that Mr. Chin is concerned that the investigation into the abduction is not progressing.
The Bureau of Public Safety had earlier reported that CCTV camera footage showed Mr. Liyan Chen being abducted by two people in front of Hanpa Mart in February. Tracking the CCTV footage showed the vehicle used in the abduction arriving at Marina in Ngetkib, Airai, parking beside a fishing vessel, before the fishing vessel departed the Marina in the northwest direction.
In addition, the girlfriend of one of the alleged kidnappers informed the police that her boyfriend and two other Palauans had been watching Mr. Chen at his apartment at T-Dock days before the alleged kidnapping. Police had interviewed the alleged kidnappers, and the information they received was said to be inconclusive.
The wife and two brothers of Mr. Chen are said to have returned to China.