Police in China used drones to track down a fugitive human trafficker who had been on the lam for 17 years.
Song Jiang, 63, escaped from a prison camp in 2002 and had successfully evaded capture since then.
Police in Yongshan, in southwestern Yunnan province, received a tip on their WeChat social media page which led them to the mountains near Song’s hometown.
After unsuccessfully searching the rough terrain, police decided to deploy drones in the hunt.
During the aerial search, drones spotted a blue metal roof on the side of a steep cliff. A closer look revealed trash and proof of a human presence.
A team of officers climbed up to find “an unkempt old man” living in a small cave. They said Song had trouble communicating after having lived alone for so long.
He used plastic bottles to fetch water from a nearby river and cooked over small open fires, police said.
Song was returned to jail to complete his sentence for trafficking women and children.