A mainlander was arrested on Sunday for allegedly stealing valuables from at least three victims, with one of the cases dating back to 2011, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam said at a special press conference yesterday.
Thieves who steal property while travelling on a plane are colloquially known in Cantonese as “jet rats” (“feigei louhsyu”).
The 46-year-old suspect surnamed Peng told the police that he is a worker.
According to Ho, on April 14, 2011, the police received a report from a non-local male who had travelled from Shanghai to Macau by plane. After the flight, he discovered that HK$38,000 and 2,900 yuan (3,250 patacas) in cash had disappeared from an envelope inside his luggage he had put in the overhead luggage compartment. Instead, the money had been replaced in the envelope with two vomit bags. On January 15 of this year, the police also received a report of a similar incident on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Macau, where the victim had HK$11,000 and MYR 39,000 (64,000 patacas) stolen.
On November 14 of last year, a local male reported to the police that when flying to Tokyo, he noticed Peng going through his luggage in the overhead luggage compartment. He immediately intervened and retrieved his belongings.
Ho added that police officers discovered that Peng was on the same flights as the other victims, and the fingerprints found on the envelope from the case in 2011 matched those of the suspect. He was arrested when he disembarked from a plane on Sunday night. Later that day, another passenger from the same flight as Peng reported to the police that 200,000 Japanese yen (equivalent to 10,721 patacas) and a Bluetooth headset had been stolen.
The police found over 890,000 Japanese yen and different foreign currency amounts worth hundreds of patacas in the suspect’s possession, suspecting that Peng committed multiple thefts on the plane on the day of his arrest. Ho added that the vomit bags were used to delay the victims’ discovery of the theft.
Under questioning, Peng denied the accusation and refused to cooperate.
Peng was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing aggravated theft charges, according to Ho.
Evidence such as Japanese yen and other foreign currencies is displayed at the Judiciary Police (PJ) press conference room yesterday. – Photo: William Chan
