A microblog linked to a longtime Chinese fugitive was closed down Wednesday, but only after it became an Internet hit with thousands of followers.

Lai Changxing's verified micro blog

Lai Changxing, a real estate investor who allegedly smuggled 53 billion yuan (US$8 billion) worth of cigarettes, automobiles and oil from foreign countries into Xiamen, Fujian Province between 1996 and 1999, fled the country in 1999 and moved to Canada.

Thousands followed the account Wednesday morning on sina.com, the news portal, shortly after the website verified the account by marking it with a "V" sign.

Lai, 53, fled to Canada after his activities were made public.

The Chinese government asked the Canadian government to extradite Lai in 2000, but there no extradition treaty exists between the two nations.

Canada attempted to investigate Lai to see if he could be extradited but the process takes a decade or so.

Lai made just one posting before his account was terminated. The post Wednesday at 4:28 am said he was "in Vancouver" with no follow-up.

Once the website verifies an account and identity of the creator, the microblog will be posted prominently for users to see.

It was verified at 11:05 am with the V sign but when a Global Times reporter visited the site again 15 minutes later, the V sign was removed and the account was killed 10 minutes thereafter. There were already 13,000 followers at that time.

An editor at sina.com told the Global Times each verified account belongs to one person and their information is checked.

According to a statement on sina.com, those who apply for a verified microblog account must provide personal details, evidence to confirm their identity, occupation, cellphone number or e-mail address. In addition, the applicant should be well-known and use their real name.

A sina.com spokeswoman surnamed Ji refused to confirm whether Lai's account passed through the normal process. She did not explain why sina.com canceled Lai's account.

Fang Xingdong, founder of Blog China, said curiosity was probably behind the high number of visitors.

"If the account still exists now, the number of followers may have reached tens of thousands," Fang said.