On February 6, a courier parcel labeled as from a BMW dealership landed in the hands of Li Bingke, a resident of Tianhe district in Guangzhou. Said to hold a bottle of cologne, the package actually contained a home-made bomb which exploded when Li opened the parcel, wounding him seriously.
The suspect in the mail bombing is now a 38-year-old Panyu resident identified only as Zheng, reports New Express, detained two days after the incident in his rented flat in the south of Guangzhou.
According to the police investigation, Zheng sent the bomb out of a grudge against Li, whom Zheng believed had sabotaged the relationship between him and his ex-girlfriend.
Li, victim of the mail bombing. //CHINA DAILY PHOTO
In a statement to media, Li’s brother has said that Li only knows the woman in question in a professional capacity through their work as tutors in a training company, and that Li maintains a very happy and loyal marriage to his own wife.
The woman, identified as Ah Fang, has confirmed that in media interviews, adding that Li had nothing to do with her decision to break up with Zheng, who she would have stopped if she had known of the bomb plot beforehand.
Zheng’s family members say that he and Ah Fang were in a relationship from 1999 through to last year, but that the reason for the breakup is unknown.
Among other injuries, Li’s right eye was ruptured in the explosion. Doctors at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University have said the surgery was successful and that although his eyesight cannot be restored to its previous level, restoration of partial vision is the best possible expected outcome.
China Daily has since written that Li’s younger brother has said that the family intends to take legal action against the BMW auto dealership from which the parcel was sent, for leaking the victim’s private information, as well as the courier company which delivered it:
“The express company should be partly responsible for this atrocity because it did not check the parcel before it was delivered…,” Li’s brother said.
