A mainland man with a criminal record for two burglaries in 2016 was arrested at a hotel in the city centre early Friday morning for burgling a flat in a residential building in the same area on Thursday night, making off with valuables worth 26,000 patacas, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said during a special press conference that day.
According to Chan, the 43-year-old suspect, surnamed Huang, had been barred from entering Macau for five years in 2016.
Chan said that the victim told the police that the whole family went out for dinner at 7 p.m. on that day and returned home an hour later, when they found signs of ransacking in the flat, reporting a total loss of 26,000 patacas worth of property including cash, gold necklaces, and jade pendants.
The Judiciary Police identified the suspect as Huang, and arrested him in the wee hours of Friday in the city centre hotel, according to Chan.
Under questioning, Chan said, Huang admitted that as he had gambled away all his savings in Macau on March 3, he burgled the flat the following Thursday night, confessing that he climbed to the flat on the third floor up a water pipe, then broke into the home by removing a window grille. Huang also told the police that after hocking the stolen goods at a pawnshop in the Inner Harbour area, he exchanged all the stolen money into yuan at a currency exchange shop in the northern district.
According to Chan, Huang was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Friday, facing charges of aggravated theft and fraud.
Evidence seized from the mainland burglar such as yuan notes is displayed by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers during Friday’s special press conference at the PJ headquarters in Zape. – Photo: Maria Cheang Ut Meng
