Camy Tam
Four women from the mainland and a local man were arrested on Friday for stealing a safe box from a hotel guestroom in Cotai earlier that day, Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Cheuk Kou Chi said at a press briefing yesterday.
The four female jobless suspects aged between 25 and 30 hold Exit-Entry Permits for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macau, colloquially known as Two-way Permits. The 40-year-old local suspect surnamed Chan told the police that he works as a remover and maintenance worker.
According to Cheuk, a front desk employee of a hotel in Cotai reported to the Public Security Police on Friday that a safe box had been stolen from a guestroom. PSP officers went to the hotel to investigate and intercepted the four mainland women in the room. Under questioning, one of the women told the officers that the room was book in her friend’s, surnamed Lu’s name. As Lu had to return to the mainland for urgent matters, she let the women stay in her room for free.
Cheuk said the women had put HK$110,000 in cash in the room’s safe box but forgot the code. They asked the hotel staff to open the safe for them but had been refused as the room was not registered in their names. The women decided to look for help from a man who they had earlier met in a casino. This man went to the room with two men (one of them surnamed Chan) and a woman. They moved the safe to a flat which was under renovation in Rua de Fat San in Taipa. Chan used a chainsaw to open the safe and the women got the money out of the safe and gave Chan HK$2,000 as a reward.
According to Cheuk, the Public Security Police told Chan to report to a police station on Friday. Under questioning, Chan admitted to opening the safe at the request of the women, but claimed that he did not know where the safe came from and discarded it in an incinerator. PSP officers are continuing their investigation into the case and are still looking for the other two men and a woman who all were on the run at the time of the press conference.
The four mainland women and Chan had been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) for further questioning, facing fraud charges, according to Cheuk.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) shows the four female theft suspects from the mainland being taken to a police station in Taipa.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) shows the male theft suspect from the mainland being taken to a police station in Taipa.
