An illegal currency exchange dealer from the mainland was arrested last Friday for holding a fellow gang member against his will in a hotel guestroom, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei said at a press briefing on Wednesday.
The 36-year-old suspect is surnamed Yu. The 36-year-old fellow gang member Yu detained is surnamed He. The duo are suspected members of an illegal currency exchange gang and came to Macau with six fellow gang members aged between 24 and 46 early this month to engage in illegal currency exchange deals.
According to Lei, the eight men stayed in a hotel guestroom together. Last Friday, He told Yu that he had a guest who needed to exchange currency, but he had no cash with him. He asked Yu to advance the money. Yu lent He HK$90,000 but required him to sign an IOU of HK$100,000. He returned to the room that night and told Yu that he had gambled away all the money. Yu told He to hand his mainland ID card to him and ask his family for help to repay the money. Yu held him against his will in the room and the gang members took turns to guard him. He took an opportunity the next day to call the police for help.
Lei said PJ officers arrived at the guestroom to rescue He and took the seven other men to a police station for questioning. He told the police that his fellow gang members held him against his will in the room. The officers seized He’s mainland ID card from Yu and later discovered that He had borrowed money from Yu and gambled the money away. Yu told the police that He had cheated him. Therefore, the Judiciary Police have launched a separate aggravated fraud case.
Yu has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing charges of holding He against his will and illicit retention of his personal identity documents, according to Lei.
