BEIJING -- The successful use of big data, face recognition and other technology in China's "Fox Hunt 2015" operation resulted in the apprehension of fugitives that had fled overseas, the People's Daily reported Thursday.

The report said that many fugitives were living under aliases, which hindered locating them. However, with the help of technology police in Shanghai managed to capture one such suspect.

In March, a Chinese man called Zhang entered China on an Australian passport. With the help of face recognition technology and supporting data, the police identified the man as Xie Renliang, who had fled abroad in 1997 when facing financial fraud charges.

Face recognition technology can also recognize people even after they have cosmetic surgery, because it uses markers such as interpupillary distance and other stable information.

China in April launched its "Sky Net" operation to capture overseas fugitives, and Fox Hunt 2015 is under this operation.

Big data played an important role as the operation was interdepartmental, the report said.

On April 25, Shanghai Police arrested Dai Xuemin, who had absconded in 2001. Dai was the first fugitive to be apprehended after China issued a list of its 100 most-wanted fugitive officials at the end of April.