The Public Security Police (PSP) have arrested a mainland man for stealing two tourists’ mobile phones separately at a hotel in Cotai, PSP spokesman Cheong Heon Fan said during a regular press conference yesterday.
According to Cheong, the jobless suspect, who is in his thirties, is surnamed Tan.
The Public Security Police received two separate reports from the two victims on December 17, both saying that their mobile phones which they had kept in their jackets were stolen during their stay at a hotel in Cotai, adding that they were worth 11,000 yuan (12,382 patacas) and 10,000 yuan respectively.
After scrutinising the citywide CCTV camera system and the hotel’s CCTV footage, Cheong said, PSP officers identified the suspect and arrested him at a guesthouse in the city centre on December 18, when the officers also seized a suit jacket which Tan used to cover up his movements while stealing the phones from the victims.
Cheong said that Tan denied that he stole the mobile phones, but there was strong circumstantial evidence that Tan committed the crimes. Tan has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing theft charges.
At the time of yesterday afternoon’s press conference, the Public Security Police were still trying to trace the whereabouts of the two stolen phones, according to Cheong.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows the suspected thief being escorted by two officers to a police station in Taipa.
