Victims beaten & forced to drink sewage
The Judiciary Police and the mainland Public Security Bureau (PSB) jointly busted a cross-border loan-sharking and debt-collecting gang last month, arresting six suspects in Macau and 40 suspects in the mainland, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam said at a special press conference yesterday.
The Judiciary Police arrested six suspects in Macau, comprising four mainlanders (three men and a woman) and two local men – a 42-year-old businessman surnamed Shi, a 34-year-old casino tip hustler (扒仔) surnamed Hu, a 32-year-old salesman surnamed Zhang, and a 28-year-old jobless woman surnamed Han, while the two locals are a 29-year-old man surnamed Lei and a 38-year-old man surnamed Chan, both work as drivers.
According to Ho, the Judiciary Police busted a usury case early last year when they arrested 16 people, five of who are currently imprisoned. The Judiciary Police continued their investigations and discovered that a cross-border loan shark gang was involved in at least 14 usury cases in Macau, involving usurious loans totalling HK$4.2 million and illegal profits of about HK$1 million. The Judiciary Police immediately launched a cross-border special investigation codenamed “6.03” to liaise with the mainland police on cross-border crimes.
Ho said that the Judiciary Police discovered that the gang had been operating since January last year and each gang member had their specific role to play. The senior members were “managing” the other members remotely from the mainland, providing funds to commit crimes as well as assigning different roles to each member. The medium-level key members were responsible for financing, collecting the usurious interest and transferring the ill-gotten gains.
According to Ho, the low-ranking members were tasked with looking for gamblers who wanted to borrow money, to accompany the borrowers while they were gambling and collecting the usurious interest, as well as detaining debtors against their will and use violent means to collect debts.
The gamblers’ loans ranged from between HK$80,000 and HK$300,000, Ho said, adding that the gang deducted five percent to 10 percent right away from the borrowed amount, while 10 percent to 20 percent was deducted from each winnings. Each borrower was required to sign an IOU and to hand over their ID cards to the gang members. Ho said that the gang had 10 accounts in two VIP rooms and that the suspects transferred illegal gains totalling about HK$4 million through various bank accounts.
Ho said that if the debtors were unable to repay, they were detained in one of the gang’s five tenement flats in the city centre, guarded by the members. The flats’ doors and windows were blocked to prevent the victims from escaping and avoiding police investigations. Ho added that the gang members beat the victims, even using sticks or brooms to attack them. The members took nude photos of their victims and even forced them to drink sewage (污水).
Gang members filmed how they abused the victims and sent the videos to the victims’ families to force them to pay back the money without further delay.
According to Ho, the two police forces decided to take action on December 26 last year. The Public Security Bureau arrested 40 suspects comprising the kingpin in eleven provinces, regions and municipalities such as Beijing, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hubei and Sichuan.
The Judiciary Police arrested the four mainlanders in different locations in Macau, while the two local men (Lei and Chan) were apprehended when they were about to leave Macau through the Barrier Gate checkpoint. All of them refused to cooperate with the police. The Judiciary Police are continuing their investigation into whether more victims are involved.
The six suspects were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) at the end of last month. They are facing charges of usury, money laundering and organised crime, according to Ho.
This handout photo provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) yesterday shows PJ officers arresting one of the suspected loan shark gang members from the mainland at a local hotel at the end of last month.
Evidence seized from the loan shark gang such as cash, nine smartphones and casino chips is displayed at the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters yesterday. Photo: Camy Tam
