In two separate theft cases, police have arrested a male visitor from the mainland and a Mongolian duo, Public Security Police (PSP) spokeswoman Lai In Hong said during a regular press conference yesterday.
The suspect in the first case is a mainlander in his forties surnamed Liu who told the police he’s jobless.
According to Lai, police received a report from a local elderly woman last Thursday afternoon saying that when she exited the lift of the pedestrian overpass on Rua do Campo, she discovered that the zip of her backpack was open and her purse that was in her backpack had vanished. The purse contained 1,900 patacas and some identification documents.
Upon scrutinising CCTV footage of the area, PSP officers saw Liu wandering around the pedestrian overpass and going up and down in the lift for 30 minutes before following the victim into the lift. The police monitored the area around the pedestrian overpass the next day, and found that Liu was again wandering around with the same clothes on.
Police arrested Liu at the scene and found 1,700 yuan (1,890 patacas) in his possession. The police presume that Liu obtained the yuan by exchanging the stolen money at a currency exchange shop. Liu denied the accusation and said that he was merely a visitor.
The suspects in the second case are a couple in their fifties surnamed Bayasgalan and Batmunkh.
According to Lai, the police received a report from a man from Japan on Friday saying that 510,000 yen (29,400 patacas) in the pocket of his shorts had vanished. He told the police that a woman had approached him from behind when he was walking in a hotel in Cotai, and he suspected that she had stolen the cash.
After scrutinising the hotel’s CCTV footage, the police found that a man, Bayasgalan, and a woman, Batmunkh, had been close to the victim, and Bayasgalan shielded Batmunkh while she committed the theft.
The police arrested the duo in an inn in the São Lázaro district on Sunday, seizing a scarf and an umbrella that the police suspected had been used to commit the theft, as well as more than HK$10,000 in cash which they had exchanged for the stolen yen.
Under questioning, Bayasgalan admitted to committing the crime and sharing the spoils with Batmunkh, who said she had gambled away her share.
Batmunkh, Bayasgalan and Liu have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing theft charges, according to Lai.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) shows evidence seized from the mainland suspect such as the yuan obtained from exchanging the stolen patacas.
