A mainland security guard working for a security company contracted by the Macau Health Bureau (SSM) was arrested on Monday for selling his Macau and Guangdong health codes to nine people at the Barrier Gate checkpoint, after one of the buyers was arrested on Saturday, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei said at a special press conference yesterday.
Lei said the 31-year-old male suspect is surnamed Zhu. The other suspect, surnamed Wang, one of Zhu’s buyers, is a jobless female mainlander aged 55, who was overstaying in Macau.
According to Lei, the Judiciary Police received the case from the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) in July last year, which was initially reported to Macau Health Bureau by a mainlander attempting to enter Zhuhai through the Barrier Gate checkpoint.
Lei said that the mainlander, who did not have the necessary health codes to pass through the checkpoint, was wandering around the checkpoint in May last year when Zhu eventually approached him or her, offering to sell his two health codes for 400 yuan (486 patacas).
The police did not reveal the gender of the person who bought the two health codes from Zhu.
Lei pointed out that the mainlander accepted Zhu’s offer and Zhu sent his Macau Health Code and Guangdong Health Code from his phone. Lei underlined that the mainlander successfully entered Zhuhai as Zhu was the security guard who checked that person’s health codes.
According to Lei, Wang was caught by the Public Security Police (PSP) on Saturday and confessed that she had also bought health codes from Zhu at the Barrier Gate. Lei said the Judiciary Police identified Zhu thanks to the information provided by Wang and apprehended Zhu when he was crossing the border from Zhuhai for work on Monday.
Lei said that Zhu confessed to selling the health codes to people using the checkpoint, and that he would actively ask people without health codes and provide his “services” if needed by generating his health codes and send them to their phones.
Under further investigation, Lei underlined that the Judiciary Police discovered Zhu had earnt around 2,000 yuan (2,432 patacas) through these “services” from May to June last year, when he sold his health codes to eight other people besides Wang.
Lei said Wang has been transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP), facing bribery and forgery charges, while Zhu was transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) yesterday for further questioning. According to Lei, since Zhu was a worker hired by the Health Bureau, he was facing forgery and bribe-taking charges as if he were a civil servant.
Meanwhile, the Health Bureau (SSM) confirmed the case in a statement yesterday evening. The statement said that the case was an isolated incident, and the main duty of the security guard was to remind people to show their health codes during immigration checks. The statement underlined that the Health Bureau has urged the contracted company to strengthen the training of its security guards.
According to the Health Bureau, the case was not related to the checking system’s vulnerability, but no information was provided as to how the nine travellers were able to cross the Barrier Gate checkpoint with Zhu’s help.
The hooded suspect is escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters to a PJ vehicle yesterday. Photo: William Chan
