Chinese mainland police on Thursday deported suspected Taiwan robber Li Hanyang, who is accused of making off with the funds from a Taipei bank security van, said the Ministry of Public Security (MPS).

Li's accomplice, his brother Li Jinzan who lives on the mainland, was also escorted to Taiwan, in line with an agreement between the two sides.

Li, who worked as an armored vehicle driver in Taipei, is alleged to have stolen 56 million New Taiwan dollars (about 1.75 million U.S. dollars) after drugging a colleague in the van on Jan. 2.

According to the ministry, Li's van was carrying 79.2 million New Taiwan dollars (2.48 million US dollars) to a bank on Jan. 2. On the way, Li drugged his colleague, transferred 56 million dollars to another car and then drove to Taoyuan International Airport.

He gave the money to a man on his way to the airport, and then flew to Hong Kong with 200,000 dollars.

On Jan. 5, mainland police were informed that Li had crossed the border into neighboring Guangdong Province to meet his brother Li Jinzan. The two fled to Kunming in southwest China's Yunnan Province the next day and hid in an apartment.

Police captured Li in Yunnan on Jan. 9, together with his brother, who was accused of aiding and abetting Li to escape police custody.

Li confessed his crime to the police, the MPS said.

Police on the Chinese mainland have returned 123 criminal suspects to Taiwan since 2000, the MPS said on Tuesday.

The ministry's spokesman Wu Heping said police on the mainland will safeguard the legitimate rights of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits.

Wu said the mainland police will make every effort to arrest and send back criminal suspects wanted by Taiwan who flee to the mainland.

Source: Xinhua