A taxi driver and a lorry driver were arrested last week for stealing cash and a wallet dropped by a motorcycle rider on the Ponte de Amizade (“Friendship Bridge”), Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Lam Keong said at a regular press conference on Monday.
The lorry driver surnamed Chan and the taxi driver surnamed Hong are both locals in their fifties and sixties respectively, while three non-resident workers (NRWs) from the mainland, aged between 40 and 50, who were the passengers in Chan’s lorry were also apprehended, Lam said. All the suspects are males.
According to Lam, on September 19 a motorcyclist reported to the police that he realised earlier that day that he had lost his wallet, and he suspected that the wallet had fallen out of his trouser pocket during his ride across “Friendship Bridge”. The victim estimated the lost property, i.e., cash and wallet, to be worth about 2,900 patacas.
Police officers then used their citywide CCTV camera system and saw that on the same day when the lorry driver, Chan, was driving across the bridge, he stopped his vehicle in the middle of the bridge, got out, and picked up a 1,000 pataca bank note, after which he resumed driving for 10 metres, but stopped again after one of his passengers, surnamed Wong, pointed out that there was another 1,000 pataca bank note on the bridge. Chan picked it up as well and drove on.
Lam added that the CCTV footage also showed that later that day the taxi driver, Hong, picked up the victim’s wallet on the bridge. The two drivers and the three passengers of the lorry were arrested on the same day and confessed to the wrongdoing.
The quintet were sent to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), Lam said, adding that Chan and Hong face theft-by-finding charges, and both were also fined for stopping their vehicles on a bridge.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) on Monday shows PSP officers escorting the five suspects to a police station.
