Camy Tam
A Filipino caregiver was arrested on Saturday for stealing HK$50,000 in cash that had been left behind in a taxi he had caught from Tap Seac to Taipa on the previous day, Public Security Police (PSP) Wong Wai Chon said at a press briefing yesterday.
The 32-year-old suspect surnamed Lat told the police that he is a non-resident worker.
According to Wong, a woman reported to the Public Security Police on Friday night that she had lost HK$50,000 in cash after taking a cab from Rua Cidade de Sintra to Rua do Almirante Costa Cabral earlier that day. She told the police that after she had got out of the taxi, she was unable to find an eco-bag with HK$50,000 in cash in it. She suspected that she had left it in the vehicle. PSP officers scrutinised CCTV footage of the area where the victim got into the taxi and identified the cabbie who told the police that he had picked up a man in Tap Seac area and suspected that he had stolen the cash.
Wong said that the Public Security Police identified Lat through CCTV footage from the Tap Seac area where he had got into the taxi which went to Avenida de Kwong Tung in Taipa. After getting out of the cab, Lat went to a nearby sitting-out area carrying a plastic bag. Lat then took the eco-bag out of the plastic bag which matched the victim’s description. He then went to his home in Avenida de Kwong Tung.
PSP officers went to Lat’s home early on Saturday. Lat admitted to stealing the money out of greed. He told the police that he put the bag containing the cash in his plastic bag and took it home. The officers retrieved the cash from his flat.
Lat was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday morning, facing a charge of theft-by-finding, according to Wong.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows PSP officers escorting the Filipino suspect to a police station in Taipa.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows evidence seized from the theft-by-finding suspect such as Hong Kong dollar notes and the clothes he wore when committing the crime.
