Hong Kong: The whereabouts of the National Security Agency contractor who has acknowledged leaking secret US documents are unknown.

On Monday evening, the Mira Hotel, an elegant hotel on the Kowloon side of Victoria Harbour, said that Edward Snowden had checked out. However, the location of the 29-year-old intelligence technical worker behind the series of disclosures to the media that have rocked the US, were not known.

In choosing Hong Kong as an initial place to take refuge from the US government, Snowden has selected a jurisdiction where it may be possible to delay extradition but not avoid it, legal and law enforcement experts here said.

It was not clear whether Snowden remained in Hong Kong or left the territory, which is part of China but has a high degree of autonomy. The hotel gave no further information, and the Hong Kong government declined to discuss Snowden's whereabouts, citing a policy of not commenting on individual cases.