Demonstrators hold up portraits of Causeway Bay Books shareholder Lee Bo (R) during a protest to call for an investigation behind the disappearance of five staff members of a Hong Kong publishing house and bookstore. (Reuters File Photo)
The mystery surrounding five missing Hong Kong booksellers known for titles banned in mainland China has deepened after one purportedly wrote to say he was fine, prompting his wife to drop a missing person's report.
Hong Kong police said late Monday that Lee Bo's wife canceled the report, but that they would continue investigating the other cases. They didn't say whether Lee had been located.
Lee and four other people associated with publisher Mighty Current, which specializes in books critical of China's Communist Party leaders, have disappeared in recent months.
A letter said to be from Lee has been circulating in Chinese-language media in Taiwan and Hong Kong. It said he was doing well and had gone back to the mainland on his own to assist an investigation.