A foreign couple was arrested on January 21 for stealing cash from two shops in Iao Hon district, causing a loss of about 7,000 patacas in total from the two shops,Public Security Police (PSP) spokeswoman Lei Chan Hong said during a regular press conference on Friday.
According to Lei, the suspects are a 37-year-old Jordanian woman surnamed Hanan and the woman’s husband, a 30-year-old Egyptian surnamed Khaled.
According to Lei, a sales assistant at a food shop in Areia Preta reported that at 8 p.m. on January 20, a woman settled her bill with a HK$500 note when buying drinks, and just as the staff member was about to give her the change, the female suspect suddenly snatched a wad of notes from the cashier.
The staff member then quickly snatched the money back, but the female suspect said that as the shop had no change in Hong Kong dollars, she would not purchase anything and left the shop, Lei said.
Afterwards, the cashier felt suspicious and checked the cash in the till, only to find that 2,500 patacas had gone, which the cashier suspected someone had taken, Lei said.
At 9 p.m. on the same day, a staff member of a pharmacy in the same neighbourhood also reported that a foreign customer reached into the till and took a stack of banknotes, after which the clerk found that 4,500 patacas had disappeared from the cash drawer, Lei said.
The clerk of the pharmacy reported the case to the police, suspecting that the female customer had taken the money, Lei said.
After receiving the report, police officers discovered that the modus operandi and suspect characteristics of the two cases were similar, which indicated that the crime might have been committed by the same people, Lei said.
Lei said that through the police forces’ citywide CCTV surveillance system, police officers discovered that both cases involved a foreign female thief and a foreign man acting as a lookout.
At 9 a.m. on January 21, police officers intercepted the duo at a hotel in the central district and found 5,500 patacas, HK$1,800 and US$2,000 in cash on them, some of which was suspected to be the proceeds of their thievery, Lei said.
The duo refused to reveal details of their personal information to the police and cooperate in giving fingerprints, Lei said, adding that the duo have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing fraud and disobedience charges.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) shows two PJ officers escorting the foreign fraud suspects into a police vehicle.
