A man from eastern China’s Jiangsu province who had been hiding from the police for 30 years finally turned himself in last week, only to find out that he was never wanted for a crime.

The man, surnamed Zhou, turned himself in to police in the city of Yinchuan, in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, for what he assumed was a crime he committed, The Beijing News reported Tuesday. However, the police did not find his name among their list of fugitives.

The 52-year-old had fled his hometown of Xuzhou in 1990 after a fight, fearing he would be arrested: He was sure the police would be in hot pursuit of him over the altercation.

During his years in hiding, Zhou worked several jobs in different parts of the country — in mining, brick-making, and even garbage-collecting. It is unclear why he decided to turn himself in after so many years.

This isn’t the first time elusive fugitives have voluntarily surrendered to China’s police.

In 2017, a convict in the southwestern Sichuan province returned to prison after fleeing to Myanmar for 26 years because he reportedly longed to see the improved living standards in his homeland. And earlier this year, a man who had been in hiding for 11 years for a crime that resulted in a death and an injury in the central Henan province also surrendered after noticing a more pervasive police presence during the coronavirus pandemic.

Editor: Bibek Bhandari.

(Header image: E+/People Visual)