A local man was arrested on Monday for stealing copper coils worth 25,000 patacas from a construction site in Taipa last month with a male accomplice, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chong Kam Leong said at a special press conference yesterday.
The 33-year-old local suspect surnamed Cheong told the police that he has worked as a taxi driver for several months.
According to Chong, the Public Security Police transferred a theft case to the Judiciary Police on December 4 last year, in which copper coils worth 25,000 patacas had been stolen from a construction site of a housing estate in Taipa.
PJ officers identified two men as the suspects and put them under surveillance. The officers arrested Cheong in Zape on Monday while the other suspect (Cheong’s accomplice) was still on the run at the time of the press conference.
Chong said that PJ officers scrutinised CCTV footage and discovered that a man – Cheong’s accomplice – pried open the construction site’s gate in the evening of December 3 and stole the copper coils. Cheong, who was riding a scooter, met his accomplice near the site and they took the stolen coils to a hardware shop in Coloane where they sold them for 2,000 patacas. According to the spokesman, Cheong received 200 patacas from the sale.
Under questioning, Cheong denied stealing the coils and told the police that he only delivered the coils to the shop, even though he knew that they were stolen goods. Cheong said that he had spent the 200 patacas on his daily expenses and fuel for his motorbike. The officers later retrieved the stolen coils from the hardware shop. The Judiciary Police are continuing their investigation into the case.
Cheong has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing an aggravated theft charge, according to Chong.
The hooded theft suspect is escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters to a PJ vehicle in Zape. Photos courtesy of TDM
Copper coils retrieved from the hardware shop are shown to the media at the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters yesterday.
