Two rival Vietnamese gangs’ members were arrested separately last month and last week for their alleged involvement in a mass fight complete with prohibited weapons last month in Iao Hon district, Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Kam Ka Kit said during a regular press briefing yesterday.
The eight suspects are aged between 25 and 34. Four of them (three men and a woman) are non-resident workers including a cleaner, a maintenance worker and a masseuse. Kam said the other four Vietnamese are holding temporary stay permits awaiting their repatriation due to their involvement in a string of offences such as causing bodily harm, aiding and abetting, and drugs.
According to Kam, a resident called the Public Security Police (PSP) on January 21 at about 9:30 p.m. to report that a mass fight was taking place in Rua Um do Bairro Iao Hon. When PSP officers arrived at the scene, no one was there, but they found a number of weapons including a knife, water pipes and an umbrella.
When scrutinising the CCTV footage of the area, PSP officers confirmed that a number of people brandishing knives, water pipes and umbrellas were attacking each other.
Kam said PJ officers later identified several suspects and arrested a Vietnamese involved in the mass fight near the crime scene at about 10 p.m. on the same day. The suspect told the police that the mass fight was between two rival Vietnamese gangs involving a total of 12 people, all of them Vietnamese. They had a dispute and were “bargaining” at the scene. However, according to Kam, the suspect told the police that the two gangs were unable to compromise so the situation deteriorated into a mass fight with weapons.
Thanks to the CCTV footage, the Public Security Police arrested another seven suspects between February 2 and 8 in different locations such as Avenida Almirante Lacerda, Estrada Marginal do Hipódromo, Avenida Norte do Hipódromo and Rua da Barca.
PSP officers seized four ecstasy pills from the home of one of the suspects. The suspect admitted that he bought the pills at a disco in Nape for 200 patacas each. The Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday were still looking for four other Vietnamese suspects as well as the source of the drugs, Kam said.
The eight suspects have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing charges of possession of prohibited weapons while one of them also faces a drug abuse charge, according to Kam.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows seven of the eight Vietnamese suspects being escorted by three PSP officers at a police station.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) shows evidence seized from the Vietnamese suspects such as clothing and four pairs of shoes that they wore during the mass fight, as well as four smartphones.
