Four illegal currency exchange dealers falsely imprisoned a fraud gang member at a guestroom of a hotel in Cotai on Thursday, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chong Kam Leong said on Saturday, adding that the quartet told the police that they had been defrauded by the gang out of 140,000 yuan in a “practice banknote” scam.
The four male suspects from the mainland, aged 39, 35, 30 and 29, are surnamed Chi, Tong, Shang and Li respectively, according to Chong, who hosted Saturday’s special press conference at the PJ headquarters in Zape.
Chong quoted the victim as saying that as instructed by the gang, he arrived with wads of practice banknotes in a hotel guestroom in Cotai on Thursday evening for a “currency exchange” deal, adding that when he entered the room, he was pushed down and beaten by six men, who claimed that the gang to which he belonged had defrauded them out of 140,000 yuan by using practice banknotes, telling him to compensate them for the fraud.
Pretending to raise money, the middle-aged victim from the mainland phoned his relatives and asked them to call the police instead, Chong said.
According to Chong, after receiving the report, PJ officers were dispatched to rescue the victim from the guestroom, where they arrested the four suspects.
Under questioning, the quartet told the police that as they had been defrauded by another member of the fraud gang, they set up a trap to force the victim to pay them back the “fraud money”. The quartet denied beating the victim.
Chong said that the victim sustained a swelling on his face, adding that PJ officers seized 200 practice banknotes from him.
The four suspects were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing false imprisonment charges, according to Chong, who noted that the Judiciary Police opened a separate investigation into the practice banknote scam.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the hooded illegal currency exchange dealers suspected of false imprisonment to a police vehicle outside the PJ headquarters in Zape after Saturday’s special press conference. – Photo: Maria Cheang Ut Meng
