HAIKOU - A pawn company boss has been detained after fleeing abroad over illegal fund raising worth hundreds of millions of yuan in South China's Hainan province, local police said Monday.

Shen Guilin, board chairman and legal representative of a pawn company based in Haikou, capital of Hainan, was arrested on Dec 28 in Laos, said the Haikou Public Security Bureau.

Shen had allegedly raised about 800 million yuan ($131 million) from more than 200 people since February 2010, promising them high monthly interest rates ranging from two to three percent, the bureau said.

He used the money for investment or personal expenditure, it added. Shen fled in December via Hong Hong to Thailand, Myanmar and Laos.

He confessed to illegally collecting public funds, according to police.

The case is still being investigated.