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Hong Kong police were expanding their search on Saturday for a van and taxi driver linked to a claim by a local democracy activist that mainland Chinese agents kidnapped, drugged and tortured him before dumping him on a beach.

Democratic Party member Howard Lam Tsz-kin underwent surgery on Friday night to remove 21 staples from his legs he says were punched into him by his abductors. He was discharged from Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam shortly before noon on Saturday, and declined an offer of police protection.

I do not have much hope in the police as they are just the state apparatus. How much can they do on a political issue? Lam said at the hospital.

I am exhausted. I just want the matter to end soon.

A police source close to the investigation into the case said officers would look at more closed-circuit television footage from Yau Ma Tei, the busy downtown district from where Lam says he was abducted after buying a soccer jersey. An initial sweep of footage on Friday did not show anything suspicious or capture where Lam went after he left the sports shop.

Lam claimed that two Putonghua-speaking men pushed him into a light goods vehicle. We are trying to get more footage from shops in the district to find if any suspicious vans were parked in the area, the source said. We will run an examination for toxins on Lam as there could be chemicals left in his blood if he was drugged.

At a press conference on Friday, Lam claimed was pushed into a van, tortured and later dumped on a beach in Sai Kung in eastern Hong Kong by mainland Chinese agents. He then took a taxi home early on Friday morning without reporting the case to police or going to hospital for treatment.

Later on Friday morning he showed the media about 20 staples still in his legs, before going to Queen Mary Hospital.

Lam said he believed the reason for the kidnapping was that he had received a signed postcard from Barcelona football star Lionel Messi last month addressed to late Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, and he intended to pass it on to Liu Xia, his widow.

A police force insider said officers had been looking for the taxi driver who drove Lam home on Friday morning.

The driver could confirm if Lam took the ride, where the driver picked him up, and what Lam did and said in the cab during the ride, the source said.

Officers had made trips to beaches in Sai Kung to look for evidence but nothing related had been found. We will also collect CCTV footage from the hotel nearby, the source added.

Speaking to the media at the hospital on Saturday, Lam said the surgery, which lasted half an hour, was done with no anaesthetic. He said he was tired and in pain, but would continue with plans to study in the United States later this month.

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Hong Kong police hunt for taxi driver who drove home democracy activist after alleged kidnapping by China agents - South China Morning Post