A man from the mainland was arrested last Friday for illegally entering Macau and presenting a counterfeit arrival card to the police during a routine patrol, Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Choi Iok Kin said at a press briefing on Wednesday.
The suspect surnamed Liu is in his thirties.
According to Choi, when the Public Security Police were on patrol at around midnight last Friday in Rua de Cantão in Zape, they saw Liu acting suspiciously and stopped him for investigation.
Liu showed them his Exit-Entry Permit for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macau (colloquially known as Two-way Permit) and an arrival card. The officers found the quality of the arrival card’s paper and font suspicious. After questioning, Liu admitted that he bought the card for 100 yuan in Zhuhai and entered Macau illegally by boat on August 10.
Choi said the Public Security Police checked Liu’s police record and confirmed that he was involved in illegal currency exchange activities and other crimes in 2019, because of which he was barred from entering Macau until 2023. In the same year, he changed his first name on his passport in the mainland and tried to enter Macau at the airport but failed. Upon arrival he was repatriated to the mainland. After Liu purchased the bogus arrival card, he paid 16,000 yuan to enter Macau illegally on August 10 so that he could gamble in local casinos. He was the only “passenger” on the people-smuggling vessel.
Liu was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) last Friday, facing illegal immigration and document forgery charges, according to Choi.
