The mastermind behind the robbery, hidden behind the nickname "Ah Hui," has been revealed after 28 years.

What is the backstory of the main suspect in the robbery case who resurfaced 28 years later?

In a robbery case, after two suspects were arrested and sentenced, the identity of the main suspect “Ah Hui” remained unknown. This suspect, hidden behind a nickname, is suspected to have appeared in another fraud case 28 years later.

On September 8, 1997, in the New City Karaoke Hall in Xixiang Town, Bao’an District, Shenzhen, Chen Xiao (pseudonym) experienced the “darkest moment” of her life. Rumors circulated in her circle that she was wealthy, making her a target for a group of criminals. That night, they took her from the karaoke hall to a hotel room and then to a rental apartment, where they beat her and extorted money from her. To force her to reveal her bank card password, the criminals even pricked her nail beds with toothpicks; to avoid detection, they moved her to another rental apartment for further torment. Chen Xiao later reported that during this time, one of the criminals also forced her to have sexual intercourse with him.

Afterwards, two accomplices, Lin Zelong and Xie Chuanjun, were captured and sentenced, while the main suspect and other criminals left only a string of “nicknames” in the police files, with no real identity information. Later, Chen Xiao left Shenzhen and moved to another area to settle down.

With the main suspect’s identity unknown and the victim having moved away, the investigation into the case hit a dead end.

In 2022, while investigating a “loan scam” gang in Shenzhen, the Bao’an District Public Security Bureau accidentally discovered clues related to this 28-year-old robbery case based on information provided by the victims. The suspect Luo Siming was identified as the mastermind “Ah Hui” of the robbery. In August 2024, the Bao’an District People’s Procuratorate of Shenzhen filed charges against Luo Siming for fraud and robbery.

The Paper noted that although multiple witnesses confirmed that Luo Siming was the main suspect “Ah Hui” in the robbery case, he himself did not admit to participating in the robbery. In mid-June 2025, the Bao’an District Court of Shenzhen publicly tried the case, but no verdict has been announced yet.

However, the lawyer for fraud victim Chen Yue, Hu Lei, stated that even if Luo Siming, as the main suspect, is ultimately sentenced, there are still co-suspects hiding behind their nicknames, whose identities remain unknown. During the trial, victims Chen Yue and Chen Wu disputed the prosecution’s determination of the amount of fraud to be over 1.29 million yuan, requesting that the amount of proven fraud should be over 9.45 million yuan, with attempted fraud amounting to over 24 million yuan for sentencing.

The notice of rights provided to fraud victim Chen Yue clearly states that Luo Siming is involved in the robbery.

Suspects in the fraud case were reported to have been involved in the robbery case 28 years ago

During the investigation of the aforementioned fraud case, Shenzhen police unexpectedly discovered a clue related to a 28-year-old robbery case.

According to a person who attended the hearings, in 2012, Chen Yue and his brother Chen Wu borrowed a total of 8.5 million yuan from fellow townsman Luo Siming for business turnover, only to fall into a “trap.”

Chen Yue stated that Luo Siming concealed the facts of repayment and sued them in court for over 24 million yuan in principal and interest by signing sham contracts, charging exorbitant fees, and demanding repayment in cash or to third-party accounts. Due to difficulties in providing evidence, he and his brother Chen Wu were unable to repay the huge interest after losing the case, leading to their fortune being wiped out and imprisonment for “failure to enforce a judgment or ruling.”

In 2019, during a crackdown on “loan scams,” Luo Siming was investigated.

During the investigation, victim Chen Yue provided police with clues, stating that Luo Siming had participated in a robbery 28 years ago and escaped. The Shenzhen police reviewed the original case files and, after investigation, linked Luo Siming to the robbery that occurred in 1997.

At the same time, as a legal representative of Chen Wu, a victim in the fraud case, Chen Yue also learned more about the situation in both cases.

The judgment issued by the Bao’an District People’s Court on January 13, 1998, indicated that only two accomplices, Lin Zelong and Xie Chuanjun, had been captured and sentenced, while the other individuals were still at large, with their names and identities unknown. In the case files, besides Luo Hongliang, the fugitives left no real names, only a series of nicknames: “Ah Hui,” “Ah Jun,” “Qiang Zai.”

The judgment stated: On the night of September 8, 1997, Lin Zelong encountered Ah Hui, Luo Hongliang, and others in the New City Karaoke Hall, and called victim Chen Xiao over. When Chen Xiao wanted to leave, “Ah Hui” shouted, “Are you afraid I won’t have money to give you?” Chen Xiao dared not leave.

“Ah Jun” and others dragged Chen Xiao into a private room, beat her, and snatched a gold necklace from her. The next morning, “Ah Hui” and others took Chen Xiao to a hotel room in Xixiang, where they punched and kicked her, took a Great Wall card, and forced her to reveal the password, then moved her to a rental apartment for captivity.

Xie Chuanjun was responsible for keeping watch, while “Ah Hui” drove Lin Zelong and others to an ATM to withdraw cash. Due to an incorrect password, the card was “swallowed” by the ATM, and the group returned to the rental apartment, again threatening Chen Xiao with a knife to obtain the password and ID card, preparing to retrieve the card from the bank, with Luo Hongliang escorting Chen Xiao home.

After returning to the rental apartment, Chen Xiao immediately reported to the local police. On the morning of September 9 at 8 a.m., Lin Zelong was arrested by police while trying to withdraw money at the bank with his ID card. Subsequently, Xie Chuanjun was also captured.

The judgment concluded that in this joint crime, “Ah Hui” and “Ah Jun” played major roles and were considered the main suspects, while captured Lin Zelong and Xie Chuanjun played minor roles and were considered accomplices. They were ultimately sentenced to robbery, with Lin Zelong receiving a prison term of two years and six months, and Xie Chuanjun receiving a prison term of one year and six months.

From then on, the case saw the two accomplices face justice, while the main suspects “Ah Hui,” “Ah Jun,” and others remained unidentified and “at large” for 28 years.

In 2024, the case was reopened, but the key figure Chen Xiao had long since left. After repeated persuasion from the Shenzhen police, Chen Xiao returned to Shenzhen to cooperate with the investigation.

Beaten and robbed for bank passwords

Lawyer Hu Lei told The Paper that Chen Xiao explained to the investigating agency that the nicknames in the files were used by police during her report to help her distinguish the roles of the robbers. In reality, she didn’t know any of them and was unaware of their real names and nicknames.

Looking back to Shenzhen in 1997, the fallen woman Chen Xiao was envied by many sisters, with rumors circulating that she had a wealthy Hong Kong boyfriend. Unfortunately, she became a target for Ah Hui and his gang of criminals.

During the trial, many details from the time of the incident were revealed in court.

On the day of the incident, in the karaoke hall, a fallen woman invited Chen Xiao to a booth, while Lin Zelong directly pulled her over. Just as she was about to leave, she was threatened: “If you leave, I’ll break your legs.” She had no choice but to sit for a while longer. When she tried to leave again, this gang forcibly dragged her into an adjacent private room and beat her.

Afterwards, three men took her to a hotel, where they closed the door and began to punch and kick her, demanding her bank card password. Chen Xiao cried out for mercy, but was met with even harsher beatings.

According to Luo Hongliang, who participated in the robbery, Chen Xiao was kneeling in the room while the three men were beating her, even pricking her nail beds with toothpicks. Chen Xiao screamed loudly. He felt the noise was too loud and could lead to trouble, so he suggested moving her to their rental apartment, which was by the sea.

Upon arriving at the rental apartment, Xie Chuanjun was the one to open the door. Inside the apartment, they continued to force her to reveal the password, threatening her with, “If you can’t remember, we’ll throw you into the sea.”

Chen Xiao claimed she truly couldn’t remember the password, so the gang found a string of numbers in her contacts, thinking it was the password, and took the card to the bank. Due to an incorrect password, the card was “swallowed” by the ATM, and they returned, with Lin Zelong threatening her with a kitchen knife: “If you don’t say it, I’ll chop off your fingers.” Chen Xiao was forced to reveal the password and was then coerced into stripping off her clothes, with her ID card taken away.

Xie Chuanjun stated that he stayed in the living room while he heard the woman inside crying and begging for mercy, shouting, “Don’t hit me.”

Chen Xiao stated that Luo Hongliang pretended to be the “good guy” in the gang, persuading her to reveal the password to avoid further beatings. After the last time they forced her to reveal the password, they left, with Luo Hongliang staying behind to keep watch. During this time, Luo Hongliang demanded to have sexual relations with her, and after she refused, he threatened to call the others back to beat her, leaving her with no choice but to agree.

Years later, Luo Hongliang admitted to participating in the robbery but claimed that Chen Xiao had agreed to let her go in exchange for sex, viewing it as a transaction between them. Afterwards, Luo Hongliang took Chen Xiao home on his motorcycle, and she gave him 2,000 yuan to buy dinner with the others, just asking him not to find her again.

After releasing Chen Xiao, Luo Hongliang took the money back and gave it to a gang member known as “Ah Jiu.” After escaping from the gang, Chen Xiao reported to the local police.

Luo Hongliang recounted the situation after Lin Zelong was captured: as soon as Lin Zelong was arrested, someone called “Ah Jiu” on the pager: “Long (nickname for Lin Zelong) has been caught.” They were all together at that time, and “Ah Jiu” immediately used the hotel phone to inform “Ming Ge” of the news. “Ming Ge” said he would find someone to bail Long out and told everyone to hide, after which they all fled and never saw each other again.

In the case files, “Ah Hui” and the real “Ming Ge”

If it weren’t for the Chen brothers mentioning this case in the aforementioned “loan scam” fraud case, this long-dormant robbery case might have found it difficult to see a turnaround.

At that time, victim Chen Xiao did not undergo a medical assessment for her injuries, and she did not know the identities of the suspects. “Ah Hui” and others remained unidentified in the files. “Ah Hui” was only referred to as “the person wearing glasses” and concluded with “name and address unknown, hence unable to issue a cooperation notice.”

In the judgment of the 1997 robbery case, Luo Hongliang, who was involved in robbery and rape, did not appear, and “Ah Jiu” was not mentioned. Chen Xiao had previously stated that the woman who initially invited her to the booth was in cahoots with the criminals, and ultimately went missing after “leaving.”

These issues posed significant difficulties for the police in reopening the case many years later.

Court documents show that after reporting the case, to avoid retaliation, Chen Xiao left the rental apartment where she had lived, and that experience left her with severe psychological trauma and pain. “I was scared just to be looked at by someone on the street,” Chen Xiao said, noting that the beating caused her spine to deform, and she later underwent corrective surgery on her spine, leaving her with serious aftereffects and relying on acupuncture to relieve pain, unable to fully cure it.

After the case was reopened, with repeated efforts from the Shenzhen police, Chen Xiao rekindled hope and hoped the police could bring her justice. The key to reopening the case was confirming the true identity of the main suspect “Ah Hui.”

In Chen Xiao’s memory, Ah Hui was “wearing glasses, slim, and had a refined appearance.” 28 years later, she recognized Ah Hui from a set of photos containing suspects, identifying him as the leader whom everyone listened to.

According to police confirmation, this “Ah Hui” is indeed the suspect in the fraud case, Luo Siming. Luo Hongliang, Lin Zelong, Xie Chuanjun, and others also testified that “Ah Hui” was Luo Siming, who participated throughout the robbery; they had just previously called him “Ming Ge” instead of “Ah Hui.”

On April 12, 2023, during the investigation of the “loan scam” gang fraud case, a situation report issued by the investigating agency indicated: the same case offender Lin Zelong and suspect “A Ming” Luo Siming were involved in a major organized crime case.

Main suspect on trial, but identities of other participants remain unknown

Chen Yue, the victim of the “loan scam” fraud case, questioned, “Who is ‘Ah Jiu’?” To this day, no one knows. Although Luo Hongliang has been captured and admitted to his involvement in the robbery, the case was soon withdrawn after it was prosecuted, citing “expiration of the statute of limitations.”

On April 20, 2023, the procuratorate issued a “Reason for Not Approving Arrest” document, stating “this case has exceeded the statute of limitations” and therefore declined to approve the arrest of missing suspect Luo Hongliang. In a meeting summary from the Bao’an District Public Security Bureau on April 28, it was recorded: “The Bao’an District People’s Procuratorate issued a document stating that it does not approve the arrest of criminal suspect Luo Hongliang, and, as requested by the Bao’an District People’s Procuratorate, is now processing the case against Luo Hongliang for robbery.”

On August 17, 2023, Luo Siming was criminally detained. The prosecution argued that as the main suspect in the case, he not only organized and executed the robbery but also directed the beating of others and arranged for his accomplices to escape after the incident, recommending a sentence of three years and six months in prison. However, Chen Yue’s lawyer Hu Lei argued that since Luo Siming was the gang’s main suspect and had a previous robbery conviction, he should be considered a repeat offender, and the sentencing recommendation was clearly too lenient.

Hu Lei stated that court information indicated that in 1991, Luo Siming had been dealt with by the Bao’an Bureau for robbery, and in 2019 he was criminally detained for extortion. Co-defendant Luo Hongliang had also been sentenced to ten years in prison for drug trafficking in 2001.

In June 2025, the Bao’an District People’s Court of Shenzhen publicly tried the case involving Luo Siming, charged with fraud and robbery, and Feng Moulong’s fraud charges.

In court, Luo Siming argued that he had no alibi for the robbery because he had enrolled in Wuhan University through adult self-study from August to September 1997 and presented a temporary residence permit from Wuhan University dated September 1, 1997, valid until August 31, 2001.

However, the prosecution argued that merely relying on the enrollment date does not represent the actual issuance time, as application approval requires a certain process, and this certificate does not prove that Luo Siming was not in Shenzhen at the time.

As Luo Siming stands trial, this robbery case from 1997 will again come to a close, but those co-suspects still hiding behind their nicknames will gradually come to light.