The Judiciary Police (PJ) arrested on Sunday two illegal currency exchange dealers at a casino in Cotai for exchanging laundered money totalling 379,200 yuan with a client, PJ spokesman Lei Chi Hou said during a regular press conference yesterday.
Lei identified the two suspects as mainland men aged 46 and 23, both surnamed Yan.
According to Lei, the middle-aged local victim exchanged HK$400,000 for 379,200 yuan at a casino in Cotai with the help of the two suspects whom she had earlier met at a casino. During the deal, Lei added, in order to prevent being cheated, the female victim asked the two currency exchange dealers to show her their identity documents to verify the authenticity of their identities, and only after confirming that she had received the transfer of the money from their bank account in the mainland did she hand over the Hong Kong dollars in cash to the duo.
Lei added that after receiving the transfer, the victim was notified by a mainland bank last Wednesday that her bank account had been frozen by the Public Security Bureau (PSB) because she was suspected of money laundering.
Lei noted that the victim later encountered the two currency exchange dealers again in a casino in Cotai, and with the help of the casino’s security guards, the victim held them there and called the Judiciary Police.
A PJ investigation, according to Lei, showed that the identity documents the duo showed to the victim were forged.
The duo have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) for further investigation, facing charges of fraud involving a considerably large sum of money, money laundering and computer crime.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lei Chi Hou looks on during yesterday’s regular press conference. – Photo: Yuki Lei
