A corrupt official profits from his power, sends family abroad, transfers assets, prepares his passport, flees the country and seeks foreign residency.

This is the usual roadmap taken by a fugitive official, said Chen Weixiong, deputy director of the anti-corruption and bribery bureau of the Guangdong Provincial People's Procuratorate.

Procuratorates in Guangdong have acquired broad experience in retrieving runaway officials, with the captured fugitives outnumbering those escaping the country annually every year since 2006.