A local man was arrested on Thursday for stealing a friend’s two smartphones in a casino-resort hotel guestroom in Taipa earlier that day, Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Cheuk Kou Chi said at a press briefing yesterday.
The 25-year-old suspect surnamed Choi told the police that he is unemployed.
According to Cheuk, a man reported to the police on Thursday that his friend surnamed Choi had stolen his two smartphones worth a total of 21,000 patacas in a hotel guestroom earlier that day. Cheuk said that Choi was his friend and they stayed in the hotel in Avenida da Nave Desportiva in Taipa (氹仔體育館大馬路). The victim had put the two smartphones on a table in the room on Wednesday. Both left the room later that day to gamble. When the victim returned to the room at 4 a.m. the next day he discovered that the phones had vanished. He was unable to contact Choi so he reported the case to the police.
Cheuk said that PSP officers scrutinised CCTV footage and discovered that Choi had left the hotel that day and took a taxi to another hotel in Avenida da Nave Desportiva. The officers arrested Choi later that day at that hotel. Under questioning, Choi admitted to stealing the two phones out of greed. He told the police he had pawned the two phones for HK$15,000. The officers later retrieved the two phones from the pawnshop.
Choi has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing a theft charge, according to Cheuk.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows PSP officers escorting the theft suspect to a police station in Taipa.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows the two stolen and pawned smartphones.
