HONG KONG: The remains of the late Cantopop icon Anita Mui have reportedly been stolen from a columbarium at Hong Kong's Po Lin Monastery, with authorities making no arrests nearly three months after the mystery unfolded.
The alarming discovery was made on July 18 when a fan, visiting the sanctuary to pay tribute to the beloved performer, noticed that the screws securing the door to her niche had been loosened and her urn was nowhere to be found, according to AsiaOne.
The fan immediately alerted Mui's relatives, who subsequently contacted law enforcement agencies.
With the police investigation yielding few leads, the late singer's family and fan club issued a joint public appeal for information on Oct 10—a poignant date that would have marked Mui's 63rd birthday.
Sources indicate that no ransom demand has been submitted, and none of the surrounding urns within the columbarium appears to have been touched.
Speaking during an early-morning livestream on Oct 11, Poon Siu-man, a close companion of Mui's mother, explained that the family and fan organisation opted to go public to garner widespread media and public coverage.
The decision followed an annual birthday gathering hosted by devoted admirers, with the family expressing hope that public assistance might assist authorities in identifying the culprits and recovering the missing urn.
Reactions to the disappearance have been swift and scathing.
Fan club Mui Nation condemned the act as "extremely absurd and contrary to ethics and morality," urging police to conduct an exhaustive investigation while calling on the monastery's management to address security vulnerabilities and take responsibility for any oversights.
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