In the course of investigating a purported “robbery case”, Judiciary Police (PJ) arriving at a hotel in Cotai discovered that a 32-year-old mainland man had stolen a backpack containing HK$95,000 entrusted to him by a friend and used the money for gambling, while also lying to the friend by telling him that “an unknown person had entered his guestroom and snatched the backpack,” PJ spokesman Cheong Kim Fong said during a regular press conference yesterday.
Cheong identified the jobless suspect as a man surnamed Wu, while the victim is a middle-aged mainland man. Both were friends who met up a few days ago to gamble in Macau.
The Judiciary Police were notified by the Public Security Police (PSP) about a “robbery case” at a hotel guestroom in Cotai on Sunday night, Cheong said, adding that the victim told the PJ officers who arrived at the scene that he had handed over the backpack containing HK$95,000 to Wu for safekeeping earlier that day, but when he returned to the guestroom at 9 p.m. that day to collect the backpack and the money, he was told by Wu that “an unknown person had entered the room earlier and taken the bag”.
However, according to Cheong, a further PJ investigation showed that Wu had left the room and went to various casinos after the victim had handed his backpack to him for safekeeping, confirming that Wu had come up with the robbery story to cover up the theft.
Cheong noted that the PJ officers recovered HK$35,000 from Wu, while concerning the HK$60,000, he refused to cooperate with the police, claiming that he had used the amount to pay off his gambling debts.
The Judiciary Police have transferred Wu to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) for further investigation, where he faces an abuse of trust charge, according to Cheong, who said that the Judiciary Police were still investigating the whereabouts of the stolen money and any other possible fugitives.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Cheong Kim Fong looks on during yesterday’s regular press conference at the PJ headquarters in Zape. – Photo: Yuki Lei
