Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said during a regular press conference yesterday that a mainland businessman was arrested when entering Macau through the Barrier Gate checkpoint on Monday evening for spreading rumours on a social media platform about a robbery-murder case involving an illegal currency exchange deal in a hotel in Cotai.
The 44-year-old suspect, who frequently travelled to and from Macau for business, is surnamed Yang, according to Chan.
Chan noted that on August 8, a clip showing a police operation in a hotel in Cotai circulated on a social media platform, alleging that after the resumption of Macau’s COVID-19-test-free entry rules, two people had been killed and one injured in a robbery involving an illegal currency exchange deal.
Chan said that the Judiciary Police attached great importance to the incident and immediately began to follow up. After verification, he added, it was determined that the claim was “absolutely false”.
Concerned that the false claim continued to spread on the internet and was being forwarded many times, causing negative comments about Macau, the Judiciary Police immediately launched a formal investigation which identified Yang as the person who initially shared the clip on the internet.
Under questioning, Yang admitted to taking the clip and uploading it onto the internet, insisting that originally he had posted the clip onto a short-form video hosting platform to share his experiences in Macau with his mainland friends. Yang also admitted that he had agreed with his friends’ comments on his clip referring to “two deaths and one injury”, according to Chan.
Chan said that Yang has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing a charge of spreading disinformation.
Chan clarified that Judiciary Police officers at that time were at the hotel working on other cases that did not involve a robbery-murder case.
Meanwhile, a PJ statement yesterday underlined that fabricating evidence does not only waste police resources but also affects the normal operation of civil society, causing public disquiet.
The Judiciary Police urged the public not to trust and forward unconfirmed information on the internet, otherwise, they could be sent to jail for up to one year or be fined.
This poster provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) yesterday warns the public not to spread rumours on social media platforms.
