The police have arrested a male Indonesian trio for stealing 50,000 patacas from a woman’s backpack, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei said during a press conference yesterday.
The suspects, in their forties and fifties, are surnamed Andre, Bayu and Santoni. Andre is a fisherman, Bayu told the police that he’s a businessman, and Santoni is a worker.
According to Lei, a local woman reported to the police on Saturday that when shopping near the Barrier Gate checkpoint she discovered that 50,000 patacas in her backpack had vanished and suspected that it had been stolen.
When examining the area’s CCTV footage, the police identified the three suspects, with two of them serving as lookouts while one carried out the theft. Afterwards, they immediately left the scene by taxi.
On Sunday evening, the police intercepted the trio and recovered a portion of the stolen money and seized the clothes they were wearing when committing the theft.
The trio have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing aggravated theft and organised crime charges, according to Lei.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the hooded Indonesian theft trio to a police vehicle outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. – Photo: William Chan
