An Indonesian female overstayer was arrested on Wednesday for stealing valuables worth more than 100,000 patacas from a flat in Coloane where she worked as a part-time maid on Monday, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei said at a special press briefing yesterday.
The 31-year-old suspect surnamed Rika is an overstayer who held a temporary stay permit which expired last week. She was previously a non-resident worker employed as a domestic helper who resigned last December.
According to Lei, the Public Security Police (PSP) referred an “internal theft” case at a residential flat in Coloane to the Judiciary Police on late Monday night. The owner of the flat told the police that a friend recommended an Indonesian woman to work as part-time maid to clean the flat. The owner had left the maid alone to clean the flat for the first time on Monday from noon to the evening. When the owner, whose gender was not revealed by the police, returned home later that night, he or she discovered that valuables such as 1,000 patacas and 5,000 yuan (6,360 patacas) in cash as well as five gold rings, two watches and three gold bracelets kept in the safe in a room worth more than 100,000 patacas had vanished. The owner then reported the case to the police.
According to Lei, the Judiciary Police identified Rika as the suspect and arrested her at her home in the Avenida de Horta e Costa neighbourhood on Wednesday. During the police’s arrest, Rika attempted to destroy evidence by throwing two watches and three golden bracelets out of her flat’s window onto the patio of the building. PJ officers later recovered the stolen items.
Under questioning, Rika told the police that she took the safe key from the owner’s bedroom to open the safe and stole the valuables. She immediately went to two pawnshops in the city centre and the Red Market respectively to pawn four rings for 7,000 patacas cash. She then exchanged the 5,000 yuan into patacas and remitted all the stolen cash to her family in Indonesia.
Rika was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday morning, facing charges of aggravated theft and fraud, according to Lei.
The hooded Indonesian theft suspect is escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters to a PJ vehicle in Zape yesterday.
Evidence seized from the Indonesian theft suspect such as two watches, three bracelets and four gold rings is displayed at the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters in Zape yesterday. Photos courtesy of TDM
