A mainlander was arrested at the Barrier Gate checkpoint on Monday for burgling a flat in a residential building in Rua Central da Areia Preta last month, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei said at a special press conference yesterday.
The 31-year-old jobless suspect is surnamed Nong.
Three colleagues share the burgled flat. They are surnamed Hoi, Cheong and Akiya.
According to Lei, the victim surnamed Hoi reported the burglary to the police in the wee hours on December 8.
The victim surnamed Cheong had discovered on the previous day, at about 2 p.m., that foreign currency notes equivalent to 33,000 patacas had vanished from his bedroom. Hoi discovered at 11:30 p.m. that a luxury watch worth 100,000 patacas had disappeared while Akiya discovered that HK$30,000 had vanished. The trio reported a total loss of property and cash worth 163,000 patacas.
According to Lei, PJ officers discovered that Nong followed residents into the building at about 6:30 p.m. on December 6. He stayed on one of the upper floors where he discovered that one of the doors wasn’t properly closed, enabling him to enter the flat shared by the three victims.
PJ officers confirmed that Nong immediately returned to the mainland after the burglary. The officers notified the Public Security Police (PSP) about the case who arrested Nong when he re-entered Macau via the Barrier Gate checkpoint on Monday afternoon. Macau’s immigration service is run by the Public Security Police.
According to Lei, Nong admitted to committing the crime. He told the police that he visited Macau on December 5 and had gambled away all his money so he came up with the idea of the burglary. Nong said that he had sold the stolen watch in the mainland for 40,000 yuan and spent most of the ill-gotten money. PJ officers found just HK$2,300 on Nong.
Nong was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing an aggravated theft charge, according to Lei.
The hooded burglary suspect is escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters in Zape to a vehicle yesterday.
Photos: Iong Tat Choi
Evidence seized from the burglary suspect such as two smartphones and Hong Kong dollar notes are displayed during yesterday’s special press conference at the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters.
