Eight arrested over masked asylum-seeker

(AP)

Hong Kong authorities have arrested eight people suspected of helping to smuggle a young Chinese passenger – disguised as an elderly white man – on a flight to Canada.

The man, believed to be in his 20s, sought asylum after arriving in Vancouver on 29 October. He is suspected of travelling to Hong Kong with genuine Chinese travel documents, then swapping them for fake papers and donning the remarkably detailed silicone mask to change his appearance before boarding the flight.