Nine locals, comprising six men and three women, were arrested separately at their respective flats and a shop on Wednesday for their alleged involvement in a cross-border criminal gang engaged in money laundering, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said during a special press conference yesterday.
Chan noted that the nine suspects are aged between 26 and 50, pointing out that four of them were jobless, two worked as construction workers, while two worked at a shop in Nape.
Chan said that in Mid-March, the manager of a jewellery shop in the city centre reported to the Judiciary Police that he had received a call from a bank that some mainlanders who used debit cards to shop at his store were suspected of spending the proceeds of fraud, because of which part of the transaction was suspended.
Chan pointed out that on March 11, four mainlanders used five debit cards to buy gold bars worth 5.92 million patacas, from two jewellery shops one in the city centre and the other in the northern district. Chan added that they bought 53 to 60 taels of gold each time, worth up to 1.23 million patacas.
The information provided by the mainland police confirmed that 2.97 million patacas of the total amount were the proceeds of telecommunications fraud, Chan said, adding that 55 mainlanders had separately reported to mainland police losses of thousands of yuan each from the scam.
According to Chan, the gang used mainland bank accounts to receive payments from its fraud victims, recruited members, and sent the owners of the bank accounts to Macau to buy gold bars, adding that the gang also recruited local members to handle a range of different tasks.
Chan said that the two female suspects, surnamed Chan and Lai, and a man who was still at large at the time of the press conference, held the five debit cards, monitored the whole process of buying gold goods which was carried out by the four mainlanders and handed over the gold items to the two male suspects, surnamed Fong and Man, as well as the female suspect surnamed Ieong who is Man’s wife.
After the three suspects received the gold items from Chan, Lai and the male suspect who was still at large yesterday drove to a designated location in Zape to pass the gold products to the two male suspects surnamed Hon and Lei, who then drove to a shop in Nape and gave the gold items to the two male suspects surnamed Chan and Lei who worked in the shop.
Chan noted that the nine suspects had repeated their fraudulent operations five times on March 11.
Chan said that on Wednesday the Judiciary Police arrested the nine suspects at their respective flats and the shop in Nape, where they seized HK$ 650,000 and 87,000 patacas in cash, a gold grain weighing one tael, and four private cars.
Chan pointed out that most of the suspects refused to cooperate with the police and reveal the whereabouts of the gold items, adding that only some of the suspects admitted to being part of the gang and having been paid 3,000 patacas for each operation.
The nine suspects were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) where they face charges of money laundering and organised crime, Chan noted, underlining that the Judiciary Police are continuing their investigation by looking for members of the gang still at large at the time of the press conference, tracing down the kingpin and the money defrauded from the victims.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the nine hooded local suspects from the PJ headquarters in Zape to a vehicle yesterday. – Photos: Yuki Lei
Evidence seized from the suspects such as nine mobile phones, HK$650,000 and 87,000 patacas in cash, and a gold grain weighing one tael, two debit cards and four car keys is displayed at the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters in Zape yesterday.
