While investigating a theft by a Filipino, the Public Security Police (PSP) arrested his girlfriend for letting him live with her in her flat even though he had been overstaying in Macau since mid-March, a PSP spokesperson said during a press conference yesterday.
The spokesperson identified the Filipino duo in their fifties, with the male surnamed Yumol and the female surnamed Tolentino who works as a domestic helper in Macau.
On Monday, the Public Security Police, according to the press conference, received a report from a male shopper about the disappearance of his mobile phone worth 7,300 patacas from a shop’s fitting room at an integrated resort in Cotai, saying that he left his phone in there after trying on clothes, adding that when he returned to the room to pick up the phone, it had vanished.
After scrutinising the shop’s CCTV footage, the Public Security Police identified Yumol as the suspected thief, as he had entered the fitting room after the victim, the spokesperson said, adding that PSP officers arrested him on Tuesday at Rua das Estalagens in the city centre. Yumol admitted to committing the crime, according to the press conference.
PSP officers then searched the flat where Yumol lived. They recovered the victim’s phone and a piece of clothing still with the security tag attached, valued at 240 patacas.
The PSP investigation also discovered that Yumol was an overstayer. His girlfriend was intercepted at the flat.
Under questioning, Tolentino told the police that she and Yumol had been living together since April, insisting she did not know that Yumol was an overstayer.
The duo have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), where Yumol faces a theft charge, while Tolentino faces a charge of aiding and abetting a person’s overstaying.
These undated handout photos provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday show PSP officers separately escorting the two Filipino suspects to a police station in Taipa.
