Passing schoolboy intercepts gambling-addicted robber
The Judiciary Police (PJ) announced during a special press conference on Friday details of a robbery that occurred on Thursday night, when a man robbed a jewellery shop in Zape of two watches and was later caught by the police nearby.
The Public Security Police (PSP) announced preliminary details of the robbery in a statement on Thursday night following its occurrence, which was reported by The Macau Post Daily on Friday.
After PSP officers arrested the robber on Thursday night, they transferred the case to the Judiciary Police for follow-up investigation.
Addressing Friday’s press conference about the case, PJ spokesman Leng Kam Lon identified the robber as a 38-year-old local man surnamed Chong who told the police that he is unemployed and that he had decided to rob the jewellery shop after gambling away all his savings.
According to Leng, Chong pretended to be a customer and entered the jewellery shop, which is located near Hotel Beverly Plaza in Avenida do Dr Rodrigo Rodrigues, at around 7 p.m. on Thursday night, when a salesman and a saleswoman were working there.
Chong asked the saleswoman to show him two luxury watches worth a total of 780,000 patacas. However, Chong snatched the two watches and ran from the shop. The salesman chased the robber while the saleswoman rang the police, Leng said.
Robber encounters schoolboy in underpass
Chong ran towards the nearby stairway leading up to the underpass in Estrada Nova, a short street near the back of the S. Francisco Barracks and the S. Francisco Garden, according to Leng.
After running up the stairway, Leng said, Chong encountered a schoolboy in the Estrada Nova underpass, where the boy helped intercept the robber.
According to Leng, Chong attempted to punch the schoolboy, who managed to dodge his punch. However, the student sustained slight abrasions, Leng said.
Finally, the schoolboy and the salesman together subdued Chong who was out of breath, Leng said, adding that Chong then “gave up” his escape and returned the two watches to the salesman.
At around the same time, Leng said, PSP officers arrived at the scene and arrested Chong.
Member of anti-crime youth team
According to Leng, the schoolboy, now a senior secondary school student, was a member of the Judiciary Police’s “Youth Fight Crime Programme” in 2019, its annual programme that organises and runs an anti-crime youth team for secondary school students to participate in.
Leng said that under questioning, Chong told PJ officers that he had recently come up with the idea of robbing a jewellery shop or pawnshop after having gambled away all his savings.
According to Leng, Chong “reconnoitred” jewellery shops and pawnshops around the city centre and Zape on Thursday, before he saw that night that in one of the shops only two staff members were working because of which, Leng said, Chong decided to rob that jeweller’s as he thought that the robbery would be an easy job.
Chong has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) for further questioning and investigation.
This handout photo released by the Judiciary Police (PJ) on Friday shows a PJ officer dusting a display cabinet in a jewellery shop on Avenida do Dr Rodrigo Rodrigues in Zape for fingerprints on Thursday night after it had been robbed by a gambling-addicted man.
