Vietnamese police have extradited to China two internationally hunted Chinese criminals apprehended while hiding in a southern Vietnamese tourist city, ending a search that lasted one week.

The arrests were made on 43-year-old Xie Jing Ping and 40-year-old Xie Ying Po on June 3 in Nha Trang, the capital city of Khanh Hoa Province, a local police chief told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Thursday.

The two fugitives were wanted worldwide for their implication in a series of outlawed activities in Maoming, the city of Guangdong Province, like leading a criminal gang of forty members, opening illegal casinos, trafficking threatened wildlife species, deliberately causing deadly injuries and captivity, and vandalism, according to Chinese police’s case file since 2007.

Xie Jing Ping was additionally accused of election sabotage and smuggling.

The two Chinese nationals fled their homeland and crossed the Cambodian border to enter Vietnam in April.

Vietnamese police officers found that the men stayed in a luxury apartment on Tran Phu Street in Nha Trang, after launching a search for the duo on May 28 following a proposal by Chinese police seven days earlier.

In the very early hours of June 3, the foreigners were nabbed while playing cards with two other fellow countrymen in the building.

Vietnamese police handed the two men to their Chinese counterparts at Cam Ranh International Airport in Khanh Hoa on Wednesday afternoon.

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