The Judiciary Police (PJ) arrested a mainlander on Wednesday for his alleged connection to a criminal gang after using fake gaming chips to cheat a casino in Zape out of at least HK$412,000, PJ spokeswoman Lei Chi Hou said during a special press conference on Friday.
The suspect is a 28-year-old mainland man surnamed Qing, who told the police that he is jobless.
The gambling fraud, according to Lei, was not discovered until about 10 p.m. on Wednesday by the casino staff, who reported that a man kept exchanging 10 chips with a face value of HK$1,000 each into chips with a face value of HK$10,000 at a number of gambling tables, but he was not gambling at any table, which drew the attention of the casino.
The casino then sent staff to intercept the suspect, and discovered that the chips owned by the man have different sized numbers to the normal ones, and the anti-counterfeit holograms were not responsive, which it was later confirmed that they are counterfeits.
Lei noted that on that day 412 bogus HK$1,000 chips were discovered at the casino, and 70 bogus ones were found on the suspect, totalling 482 counterfeit chips.
Under questioning, Qing admitted to receiving a 1,000-pataca payment to bring chips from the mainland to Macau to exchange, and he also knew that the chips were bogus, Lei said, adding that Judiciary Police are tracking down at least two fugitives, and the case is being followed up.
Qing was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Friday, facing charges of organised crime and fraud involving a considerable amount of money.
This photo taken on Friday shows Judiciary Police (PJ) officers displaying the seized fake chips during Friday’s special press conference at the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters. – Photo: MPDG
