Three African men and three Indonesian women have been arrested for drug trafficking, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon said at a special press conference held outside the crime scene in Travessa do Ultramar (僑樂巷) last night.
The six suspects comprise a 53-year-old jobless man from Tanzania surnamed Suleiman who was sentenced by a local court to jail in 2013 for drug offences and released at the end of last year; a 37-year-old female Indonesian restaurant worker surnamed Puji; a 46-year-old female Indonesian domestic helper named Paulina; a 33-year-old jobless man from Cameroon who was imprisoned in Macau between 2016 and 2018 for drug offences; a 46-year-old Nigerian man surnamed Okafor who was imprisoned in Macau between 2018 and 2020 for drug offices; and a 45-year-old Indonesian female domestic helper surnamed Giyanti.
The three African men hold temporary stay permits.
According to Leng, the Judiciary Police busted a drug case last Friday and arrested Suleiman and Puji in Rua de Brás da Rosa in San Kio district. PJ officers seized ice weighing 1.08 grammes from Suleiman who admitted that he was going to sell the drugs for 1,400 patacas while Puji refused to cooperate with the police. Leng said that the duo tested negative for drugs.
Leng said that the Judiciary Police later discovered that Suleiman had bought the drugs from another African man (Okafor). PJ officers identified Okafor as the suspect and put him under surveillance yesterday near his home in Travessa do Ultramar. The officers arrested Okafor when he was about to enter the building yesterday afternoon. The officers went with Okafor to his home where they found Paulina and Ndam who also live in the flat. During a search the officers were unable to find any drugs in the flat, when Giyanti returned home carrying a parcel sent from overseas which she had just collected from a nearby restaurant.
The officers found some potato starch in the parcel with three “items” wrapped in tin foil hidden inside the starch. The officers later confirmed that the “items” were ice weighing 341.98 grammes in total. The officers also discovered two small packets of ice hidden behind the water pipes in the same building. The Judiciary Police seized a total of 345.26 grammes of ice with an estimated street price of 1.2 million patacas. Paulina and Ndam refused to cooperate with the police while Okafor and Giyanti admitted to selling drugs to their friends as well as local people. The Judiciary Police are continuing their investigation into the case, according to Leng.
The six suspects were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) last night, facing drug trafficking charges, according to Leng.
One of the six hooded drug trafficking suspects is escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the crime scene in Travessa do Ultramar (僑樂巷) to a PJ vehicle last night. Photos: Camy Tam
Evidence seized from the suspects such as ice wrapped in three pieces of tin foil in three bags of potato starch is shown at the crime scene on Travessa do Ultramar last night.
