In two separate cases, a mainland visitor and a local man have been arrested for stealing a pair of earbuds and a plastic bag containing 1,600 patacas respectively, Public Security Police (PSP) Cheong Heon Fan said at a regular press conference yesterday.
In the first case, the suspect is a 59-year-old man surnamed Gong. He told the police he’s jobless.
According to Cheong, the Public Security Police received a report from a woman on August 9 that she had left a pair of earbuds on a bus earlier that day. The police then checked the bus’s CCTV footage and discovered that Gong had picked up the earbuds. He was intercepted when he was entering the Barrier Gate checkpoint on September 20.
Under questioning, Gong admitted to stealing the earbuds out of greed. Cheong added that police found the earbuds on him.
In the second case, the suspect surnamed Wu is a 35-year-old man who told the police that he works in customer service.
In that case, the police received a report from a woman saying that she had left a plastic bag containing 1,600 patacas on the counter of a bureau de change near Barrier Gate checkpoint. After she realised that she had left the bag behind and returned to the shop an hour later, the bag had vanished, and she reported the case to the police.
According to Cheong, after scrutinising their citywide CCTV camera system, the police identified Wu and intercepted him on Monday in Rua da Prainha. Under questioning, he admitted to stealing the bag and said that he had spent all the ill-gotten money.
The two suspects have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing theft-by-finding charges, Cheong said.
This undated photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows PSP officers escorting the theft-by-finding mainland suspect to a police station.
