Four suspected gang members from the mainland were arrested last Tuesday for pimping and stealing a sex client’s valuables worth 20,000 patacas last week, Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Leong Chi Seng said at a press briefing on Monday.
The four suspects are a 45-year-old man surnamed Ding, a 45-year-old woman surnamed Zhang, a 39-year-old man surnamed Zhang and a 37-year-old woman surnamed Tang. They hold a valid Exit-Entry Permit for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macau (colloquially known as a Two-way Permit).
Leong did not elaborate on whether the two Zhangs are related.
A 29-year-old sex worker surnamed Chen holding a valid Two-way Permit involved in the case was on the run at the time of the press conference.
According to Leong, a 61-year-old man reported to the police on July 19 that his gold chain and a jade pendant had been stolen from a hotel guestroom in Rua Novo do Comércio earlier that night. He told the police that he had met a woman surnamed Chen near the hotel at about 9 p.m. on that day and both went to a supermarket to buy her some fruit.
Chen told him she could give him a massage in exchange for buying her the fruit. They went to the hotel guestroom. The victim put his gold chain and jade pendant on the windowsill and took a shower. After the shower, he discovered that both his valuables and Chen had disappeared, after which he reported the case to the police.
Leong said PSP officers scrutinised CCTV footage and confirmed that Chen, Ding and the female suspect surnamed Zhang were looking for elderly sex clients in the streets in the Inner Harbour area between July 17 and 19.
The Public Security Police arrested Ding and Zhang in the early morning last Tuesday at the hotel lobby in the northern district. The officers found two sets of keys on Ding for two flats, one in Rua de Cinco de Outubro and the other in Rua da Praia do Manduco where they seized a quantity of commercial sex paraphernalia.
When the officers went to the flat in Rua da Paria do Manduco, they arrested Tang who was looking for elderly clients in the neighbourhood.
According to Leong, the Public Security Police arrested another man surnamed Zhang later that day who was hiding in the kitchen of a flat in a building next to the hotel guestroom in Rua Novo do Comércio where the victim had lost his valuables. PSP officers discovered a secret passageway connected to the guestroom. The officers suspect that Zhang went through the passageway to reach the guestroom and steal the victim’s valuables.
The four suspects were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) last Wednesday, facing charges of pimping and theft, according to Leong who added that the police are continuing their investigation into how long the gang had been operating in Macau.
