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New Zealand and American authorities were last night at loggerheads over whether United States Marshals had powers to arrest or even detain fugitive Nai Yin Xue.
Commander Tom Hession, the marshal leading the hunt for Xue, told the Herald on Sunday there could be difficulty detaining him if he was found today because a "diplomatic process" with New Zealand was ongoing.
However, the officer in charge of the inquiry Detective Senior Sergeant Simon Scott, described this as "rubbish" and contrary to what police had been told by the US Marshal Service.
Scott said a US judge yesterday issued a warrant for Xue which allowed authorities to arrest him. The warrant was essentially a backstop, as Xue could be arrested on immigration matters.
The different stories add to a week of confusion over An An Liu's death and her husband's disappearance.
Hession told the Herald on Sunday he had dedicated a team of his officers to finding Xue who was subject to an international "red notice".
But he believed that the notice did not automatically mean the US Marshals could arrest Xue. Hession said this would require a particular kind of warrant to be issued by the US Department of Justice after it had the right information from New Zealand authorities - which he described as a "diplomatic matter" currently "going through the process".
Hession said he did not think this would hamper a marshal who found Xue. But asked what the marshal could do, Hession said "watch him... monitor him".
While there had been "personal conversations" from New Zealand police about Xue early in the week, these were not official enough to set the marshals on to him, Hession said. Scott rejected that.
Hession added there could be issues concerning the way Xue had come into the US that he could be detained for, but refused to disclose details.
The US Marshals are the main US apprehension authority for fugitives from any American or international authority. They can operate anywhere in the country.
Hession said he had 100 officers under his command but a smaller team was hunting for Xue. He said New Zealanders could be assured they would find Xue. "As long as he is on United States soil we will be after him."
The dispute about arrest powers deepens the confusion around the hunt for Xue, who dumped his 3-year-old daughter Qian Xun Xue in Melbourne last Sunday after leaving New Zealand following the alleged murder of his wife An An Liu.
The US authorities able to stop Xue say the delays in activating the red notice - which is done by contacting Interpol - have given him a head start.
The Los Angeles Police Department said the notice went up on Wednesday afternoon LA time, which would have been Thursday morning in New Zealand and came a day after An An Liu's body was found in the boot of a car outside the couple's Auckland home.
LAPD officer Jason Lee told the Herald on Sunday that until the red notice went up, Xue could have been pulled over at a random traffic stop, given over his passport or driver's licence and had the details run through the computer system and the officer stopping him would have been "none the wiser". "We couldn't have done anything."
If Xue is still in the US, the net is tightening. The Herald on Sunday has found Xue spent his first night in LA in the Royal Pagoda Motel, a $70-a-night 1 1/2-star faux-pagoda construction metres from the Old Chinatown gate.
The manager said officers - he did not know from where - had visited twice and seized the motel's records from that night.
If reports that an airport shuttle driver recalled a man matching Xue's description leaving his bus at the motel are true, it shows the publicity is having an effect.
The hunt for Xue has been covered by mainstream media, and stories have appeared every day in the Chinese media. Newspapers such as the Chinese Daily News have a circulation of more than 100,000.
The LAPD has also visited 15 addresses in four neighbourhoods - Chinatown, Alhambra, Monterey Park and Glendale - saying the leads have come from New Zealand's Chinese community.
While Chinatown is compact, Alhambra and Monterey Park are vast Chinese suburbs to the east of the city. There are 400,000 Chinese living in Los Angeles and one million in California.
Xue lived in this area in 2000 and associates from then said he may be able to sink back into the community if he assumed a new identity.
Reporter Sylvia Tain said he would find this difficult because of the publicity.
She said it was unlikely he would find help - even if he used money within the long-established networks which helped illegal immigrants.
"They will not take his money - he will find no sympathy anywhere."
