A local pupil was arrested on Sunday for stealing valuables worth more than a million patacas belonging to his two cousins, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Cheong Kam Fai said at a special press conference yesterday.
The 19-year-old suspect surnamed Lei is a secondary school pupil.
According to Cheong, the two victims, who are sisters in their twenties, reported to the police on Sunday that their valuables worth 1,055,000 patacas that they kept at home had vanished.
Cheong said that Lei lives with his family and relatives including the two sisters who are his cousins, seven people in total, in two connecting flats in a building in São Lourenço district.
According to Cheong, the younger sister discovered on Saturday night when she checked in her bedroom cabinet that two designer watches and a jade bracelet worth 359,000 patacas in total had vanished. She immediately told her family members who then checked their belongings. The elder sister also discovered that two designer watches and a diamond bracelet worth 696,000 patacas in total she kept in her bedroom cabinet had also vanished. The two victims together reported the case to the police.
According to Cheong, the Public Security Police (PSP) referred the case to the Judiciary Police (PJ) on Sunday to continue the investigation. PJ officers confirmed that the main door and windows of the flat were intact, without any signs of being damaged. The officers concluded that the theft was probably done by someone living in the flat and therefore questioned everyone living there.
After the PJ officers had left the flat, the two victims accompanied Lei to a police station later that day. Lei had told his cousins that he had stolen their valuables. He told the police that one of his QQ netizen friends had introduced him to a gambling app in September. He said that after joining the app he got addicted to gambling.
Lei also told the police that he had lost more than 10,000 patacas at the beginning but was eager to win back the money. Running out of money, he stole valuables from both his cousins’ bedrooms on four occasions between September and October. He pawned the stolen items for about HK$170,000 in a pawnshop in Nape and later gambled away all the money, according to Cheong.
PJ officers later retrieved three watches and the jade bracelet from the pawnshop. At the time of the press conference, the Judiciary Police were still looking for the whereabouts of a watch and a diamond bracelet. According to Cheong, the Judiciary Police will notify the Youth and Education Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) about the case.
Lei was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing charges of aggravated theft, illegal gambling and fraud involving a considerable amount, officially defined as exceeding 150,000 patacas, according to Cheong.
Meanwhile, the Youth and Education Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) underlined in a statement last night that the bureau is highly concerned about the suspect’s involvement in gambling and theft, adding that it has immediately contacted a counselling service to provide assistance to the pupil and parents involved in the case.
The bureau urged young people to think thoroughly and carefully consider the consequences before doing anything, and to refrain from committing illegal acts on the spur of the moment thus ruining their future.
The hooded 19-year-old suspect is escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters in Zape to a vehicle in yesterday. Photos: Iong Tat Choi
Evidence seized from the suspect such as three designer watches and a jade bracelet are displayed during a special press conference at the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters yesterday.
