In China, man arrested by police 5 times in 3 days due to resemblance to wanted criminal

In an amusing goof-up, a Chinese man from Baicheng in Northeast China's Jilin Province was reported to police officials five times in three days because of his similar facial resemblance to a wanted criminal from North Korea. The criminal named Zhu Xianjian escaped from prison on October 18, and since then the local police have been searching for him. The police department has offered a reward worth Rs 1,50,000 yuan (Rs 17.81 lakh), which was later increased to 700,000 yuan (Rs 83.13 lakh), to anyone who informs the police about his whereabouts, as per a report published in the Global Times.

A video clip extensively surfacing on Chinese social media shows the wanted criminal wearing a dark blue jacket and resembling similar facial features to the Chinese man, who is not the real culprit. Interestingly, the expressions and hairstyle of the man are also the same. Local residents were surprised to learn about the incident, and the netizens on the Chinese microblogging platform, Weibo, flooded the post with comments, many of them also expressed sympathy for the so-called doppelganger. While many suggested that he should always carry his identity card to prove his innocence. Notably, prison breakouts are rare in China, and the news of a criminal's escape has surprised a lot of people in the province. 

Wanted criminal Xianjian has been charged with illegal entry into China, larceny, and robbery after escaping from North Korea in 2013. He has been sentenced to prison for more than 10 years in the city of Jilin. The police arrested Xianjian in 2013 and scheduled his release in 2023, but he managed to escape. After Xinjiang's arrest, many congratulated the doppelganger on social media, saying that he wouldn't have to worry about being arrested by the police anymore.