A 47-year-old man from the mainland was arrested on Wednesday at a casino in the city centre for stealing valuables from at least five cabs in the wee hours of Tuesday because of “gambling losses”, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chong Kam Leong said during a special press conference yesterday.
The jobless suspect is surnamed Liu, Chong added.
According to Chong, the Judiciary Police received a report from one of the five victims on Tuesday morning, saying that his mobile phone and a “small” amount of cash were stolen from a taxi he had parked at Rua de João de Araújo at about 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday, adding that the break-in was not discovered until another cabbie who took over his duty found traces of it at 9 a.m. in the car that day.
After identifying the suspect as Liu, PJ officers arrested him the next day at a casino in the central district, Chong said, adding that under questioning, Liu claimed that after gambling away all the money he had taken with him to Macau, he stole 500 patacas in cash and a mobile phone from several cabs that were unlocked, insisting that he hocked the mobile phone for 300 patacas in a local pawnshop.
The stolen phone was recovered by PJ officers, according to Chong, who noted that Liu was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing charges of fraud and aggravated theft.
During the press conference, Chong urged members of the public to take the initiative to report to the police if they found traces of a car break-in recently.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the hooded taxi break-in suspect from the mainland to a PJ vehicle outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. – Photo: Yuki Lei
