Drone Helps Find Chinese Cave Fugitive

“All good things have to end,”goes the age old maxim. That was the case for a Chinese fugitive who was discovered hiding in a mountainous region of China, through use of a drone.   In a case of a reverse search and rescue,  the drone was used to find someone who had spent 17 years going to great lengths not to be found

Song Jiang, age 63, was living in a prison camp in his native China when he escaped 17 years ago.  He had eluded authorities until police found his secret hideaway via drone imagery.  Song Jiang had been convicted of trafficking woman and children and escaping prison in 2002.

Police spent years searching, but were unable to find him after his escape. Drone images showed a piece of blue steel in the forest canopy, leading to discovery of his hideout in the mountains behind his hometown in the country’s Yunnan province.

The NZ Herald reported that the steel was covering a cave in which Song was hiding.  He was found  “grey-haired, dishevelled, and unable to communicate after years of isolation when officers found him, according to Yongshan police,” reported the Herald.  “His cave was about two square metres wide, with steps out the front and a makeshift bed inside.”