A burglar from Hunan province was arrested on Monday for stealing valuables worth 714,500 patacas from a villa in Estrada da Penha in early January, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lun said at a special press conference yesterday.
The 28-year-old jobless suspect is surnamed Luo.
According to Leng, a woman reported a burglary at her villa on Penha Hill to the police on January 7. PJ officers went to the scene to investigate. The victim told the police that she had left her villa at noon on January 2. Her part-time maid informed her in the afternoon of January 6 she believed that her home had been burglarised.
The victim later discovered that the bottom of a safe in the master bedroom had been forced open and a number of valuables such as three luxury watches, jewellery and different currency banknotes including US dollars, euros, Hong Kong dollars and yuan worth 714,500 patacas had been stolen. She reported the case to the police.
After scrutinising CCTV footage from the area, PJ officers discovered that the culprit broke into the villa on the night of January 5. He appeared at the retaining wall opposite the villa, slid down from a nearby lamppost, and then climbed into the house. After the burglary, he climbed over the wall and vanished with his loot.
The suspect showed strong anti-detection capabilities, using bushes to hide and vanished along a path covered with bushes and trees to avoid CCTV tracking, according to Leng.
Leng said the Judiciary Police searched the hilly area and discovered that the suspect left the crime scene by walking along the path to Avenida da República where he took a bus to the Barrier Gate to return to the mainland.
According to Leng, the Judiciary Police confirmed that the safe was forced open with an electric drill. PJ officers found shoe prints left by the culprit on the exterior wall of the villa.
The officers discovered that after the burglary the suspect changed his shoes and discarded the pair which he had worn during the burglary on the hill. PJ officers later found the suspect’s discarded pair of shoes on the hill. The Judiciary Police confirmed that the sole pattern of the discarded shoes matched the shoe prints on the outer wall of the villa.
Leng said Luo was arrested by the Public Security Police (PSP) on Monday afternoon at the Barrier Gate checkpoint when returning to Macau.
Luo was transferred to the Judiciary Police for questioning. He refused to cooperate with the police and reveal the whereabouts of the valuables he stole. The Judiciary police seized a number of burglary tools from Luo such as several electric drill bits, a spare pair of shoes, a pair of gloves, a hood and wigs.
The Judiciary Police believe that Luo was planning to commit another burglary in Macau.
Luo was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing an aggravated theft charge, according to Leng.
The hooded burglary suspect is escorted by the Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters to a vehicle yesterday. Photos: Iong Tat Choi
Evidence seized from the Penha Hill burglary suspect such as a wig and parts drill bits is displayed at the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters yesterday.
This undated handout photo provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) shows the master bedroom’s safe forced open by the suspect.
This undated handout photo released by the Judiciary Police yesterday shows a PJ officer abseiling down a Penha Hill path while investigating the burglary.
