Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said during a regular press conference on Friday that three male non-resident workers (NRWs) and two local men were arrested for stealing 230,000 patacas worth of toiletries from a local hotel provided for its guest rooms.
Chan noted that the three mainland suspects, surnamed Xu, He, and Lin, who worked as hotel room attendants, are aged 31, 34, and 40 respectively, while the two suspects who own a cosmetics shop in the Barrier Gate checkpoint area, surnamed Che and Wong, are aged 35 and 36 respectively.
Chan said that the Judiciary Police received a report on Tuesday about a theft at a hotel in Cotai, so PJ officers were dispatched to the scene.
According to Chan, the hotel employees told the police that one of its monitoring and evaluation staff members had discovered that someone was selling hotel-specific toiletries on a social media platform, adding that after scrutinising the hotel’s CCTV footage, the hotel confirmed that at least five room attendants had stolen the toiletries while they were at work. At the same time, Chan noted, 173 bottles of shampoo, 21 bottles of shower gel, 53 bottles of lotion, 24 bars of soap and nine storage bags were found in the lockers of Xu, He and Lin.
The police took the trio and stolen items to the PJ headquarters for further investigation, Chan said, adding that under questioning, He and Lin admitted that they began to steal bath products when they were at work after Xu notified them in August that someone bought “mini version” bath products for “2 to 2.5” yuan each, adding that they took them out of the hotel when they got off work and passed them to Xu near the Barrier Gate checkpoint, according to Chan. Xu collected the stolen items and resold them to a cosmetics store in the area.
He and Lin confessed that they stole 640 and 1,500 bath items respectively and earned 1,350 and 3,450 patacas each, Chan noted. Xu told the police that he did not remember how many bath items he had stolen, but remembered that he had resold them three times and earned about 5,000 patacas last time.
According to each suspect’s confession, the Judiciary Police arrested Che and Wong in a cosmetics store in the Barrier Gate checkpoint area. Chan said that the duo denied they were involved in the case and refused to cooperate with the police.
Chan said that the Judiciary Police believe that the gang had been operating since August, adding that the three mainlanders and the two locals have been transferred to the Public Precautions Office (MP), where the trio face aggravated theft and organised crime charges, while the duo face charges for fencing, i.e, buying and selling stolen goods.
Chan added that the Judiciary Police continued to investigate the case and trace the whereabouts of other possible suspects who were still at large at the time of Friday’s press conference.
