A criminal gang linked to eight fraud cases in the mainland, involving 5.5 million yuan (6.17 million patacas), allegedly transferred about 4.7 million patacas of the proceeds by buying gold in Macau with the use of mainland bank cards, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Cheong Kim Fong said yesterday, adding that PJ officers caught one of the gang’s key members red-handed while he was committing his money-laundering crime in a jewellery shop in Cotai on Sunday.
During yesterday’s special press conference, Cheong said that the PJ Anti-Fraud Coordination Centre was notified on Saturday by the National Anti-Fraud Centre (NAFC) about a number of criminals who were using mainland bank cards to make high-value purchases at jewellery shops in Macau, thereby helping launder illegally obtained funds derived from a telecom fraud gang. Cheong added that a PJ in-depth investigation identified one of the suspects as one of the gang’s key members surnamed Geoi, aged 28, from Hong Kong.
According to Cheong, upon having received intelligence that Geoi would enter Macau again on Sunday for another money-laundering operation at a jewellery shop in Cotai, PJ officers put the shop under surveillance and arrested the suspect in the afternoon of that day when he was using a mainland bank card to buy bullion worth 630,800 patacas, including four gold bars and six gold grains with a total weight of 25.5 taels (963.8 grams).
Under questioning, Geoi refused to cooperate with the police, Cheong said, noting that according to the PJ investigation, Geoi is one of the gang’s key members tasked with using bank cards to buy gold in Macau. He entered Macau 11 times this month and spent a total of 4.2 million patacas in the same way by showing other people’s ID cards to purchase gold bars and grains for money-laundering purposes.
Geoi was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday for further investigation, where he faces charges of organised crime, money laundering, fraud involving a considerably large amount of money, and using another person’s ID.
Meanwhile, Cheong said during the press conference that the Judiciary Police were still looking for the other suspects involved in the laundering of the remaining 500,000 patacas in the case. Cheong also said that the police were still investigating how many members the gang has and when it got off the ground.
The hooded money-laundering suspect from Hong Kong is escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters in Zape to a vehicle yesterday.
– Photo: Yuki Lei
