At least 12 suspects surrendered because China tightened control over the movement of people to fight the corona virus.

A Qiu man surrenders in Bayannur, Inner Mongolia on February 11. Local police said in a WeChat post that he had dodged identity checks for four years, but eventually gave up after the self-governing body began inspecting people in and out of the neighborhood he hid. hide.

Qiu was wanted for allegedly stealing a corpse for a "ghost wedding" - a practice in many parts of China. Families believe that unmarried people who die will have to live alone in the afterlife unless they are buried with another corpse. This person will become their mate in Hades.

Police said Qiu admitted stealing a corpse for sale to a family in Shaanxi province for 5,000 yuan ($ 715).

In Guangdong province, the 50-year-old Zhang man wanted for murder 27 years ago also surrendered in Heyuan. He testified that strict inspection of his identity card and body temperature measurements made him realize that "sooner or later, he will be arrested."

He confessed to being involved in the stabbing of a man outside a movie theater in Dan Jiangkou in 1993. Two accomplices were imprisoned. In 27 years of fleeing, Zhang worked in Guangdong, but did not dare to contact his family and friends in Hubei.

When seeing Hubei become an outbreak, Zhang realized that if he surrendered, he could at least reconnect to find out the situation of relatives. The Guangdong police handed over Zhang to Hubei authorities.

Last week, the Fan man, accused of being involved in a scam through telecommunications services of 10 million yuan (nearly $ 1.5 million) in 2015, left his hiding place in Shanxi province. Fans tried to avoid checkpoints by cycling on side roads around the province, from Jincheng City to Duc Thanh District.

"Recently there are many checkpoints in Duc Thanh and we also patrol the streets all the time. Under that pressure, he decided to surrender. Moreover, he could not find a place of refuge", police Liu Wei in Yuceng said. The Henan Province police have wanted Fan since 2017 and Duc Thanh police handed him over to them.

Huang Jing, an expert on criminal psychology in Hangzhou, said the escaped suspects will be miserable when the social crisis occurs, because they lack stable relationships and stable incomes.

She added that fears of a pandemic and tighter government control could also make criminals panic. "Panic can make them hopeless or even kill themselves."

"When they surrender, at least they are provided with food and medical care in the prison," Huang said. She said that if the situation of restraint and strict control continued, more people would give up. "The longer this situation becomes, the more they will have to face deteriorating living conditions and become mentally weaker."