Pair courting capture, says investigator

Bank-loan runaways Leo Gao and Cara Young struck it lucky but will be caught in a matter of days if they don't start covering their tracks, says a leading private investigator.

Bruce Couper, a former detective and now managing director of Risq NZ, said the fugitives had shown far too much to investigators by leaving messages on Facebook, phoning relatives and their obvious lack of preparation.

"If they don't know who you are or where you've come from it's fine, but if they know exactly who you are, who your relatives are ... it's a lot easier to track," he told the Herald yesterday.

Leo Gao, a Chinese national, and Cara Young, his Kiwi girlfriend, fled the country about 19 days ago after a Westpac Bank employee mistakenly bumped a $100,000 overdraft up two zeros to $10 million.

New Zealand police now have an international manhunt on their hands and are liaising with Interpol.

Police did not return calls yesterday, but said on Saturday that there were no developments in the investigation, which had traced "two individuals of interest" to Hong Kong.

Gao and Young are known to be travelling with Young's 7-year-old daughter Leena and sister Aroha Hurring, but Gao's mother and Huan Di Zhang, his business partner, are unaccounted for.

Gao's brother Yu, who calls himself "Carter", surfaced at the weekend, saying he was still in New Zealand and denying involvement in the theft.

Although Gao and Young have been traced to Hong Kong, Mr Couper said it was unlikely New Zealand officers had been sent overseas yet.

The NZ police Asian liaison officer in Thailand was probably liaising with the Chinese customs and police authorities in a bid to catch the pair.