Four jobless Mongolian men aged 30 to 40 were arrested last Wednesday after pickpocketing 5,000 yuan from a man’s crossbody bag, and they were also found to be involved in a shoplifting case at a supermarket in Zape, with one of the suspects also found to be a drug user, a Public Security Police (PSP) spokesperson said in a regular press conference yesterday.
According to the spokesperson, PSP officers received a report from a local male victim saying he suspected that the money he had withdrawn from an ATM on Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro (新馬路) last Tuesday had been stolen, as he found that 5,000 yuan in cash inside his bag had vanished, as he discovered that the zip of his crossbody bag was undone.
According to the spokesperson, the Public Security Police made use of their citywide CCTV surveillance system and discovered that the four Mongolians first deliberately approached the victim when he was walking through Largo do São Domingos (板樟堂前地) at about 1:30 p.m. last Tuesday, after which three of them kept a lookout while the fourth opened the victim’s crossbody bag to remove the cash.
During the investigation, the police also discovered that the four men had stolen two bottles of alcoholic beverage valued at 500 patacas each from a shop in Zape earlier that day, the spokesperson said.
PSP officers identified the suspects and arrested them in a massage parlour in Zape the next day, the spokesperson said.
The foursome denied pickpocketing the male victim’s crossbody bag but admitted to shoplifting two bottles of alcoholic beverage from a supermarket, after which the police recovered the stolen goods from the room in the massage parlour where the suspects were intercepted, the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, PSP officers found a glass pipe with traces of powder on one of the suspects, which he claimed to have found earlier in Hong Kong and used to smoke methamphetamine – also known as ice, the spokesperson said.
The police later confirmed that the powder on the pipe was methamphetamine and the suspect tested positive for it, the spokesperson said.
The four suspects were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) last Wednesday, facing a charge of aggravated theft, while one of them faces additional charges of drug use and possession of drug-taking paraphernalia.
This undated photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows PSP officers escorting the four Mongolian theft suspects to a police station.
