Two local students were arrested on Wednesday for stealing 132 used phones from a parallel trading den and selling them to make a profit, involving a retail value of HK$260,000, a spokesperson said in a special press conference on Thursday.
According to the spokesperson, the suspects are a 22-year-old local male university student surnamed Chan and 18-year-old female high school student surnamed Ho, who told the police that they are lovers.
Ho had been involved in parallel trading activities for a year, and got her boyfriend to join in the parallel trading activities several months ago, the spokesperson said.
Ho had been helping the middle-aged male person in charge to smuggle goods across the border, so she knew that the key to the owner’s residential unit used for storing parallel-trading goods was hidden outside the door, the spokesperson said. Therefore, Ho conspired with her boyfriend to steal the mobile phones.
On Tuesday, Ho was told by the person in charge to smuggle 30 used phones stored in the parallel-trading den in the northern district to the mainland, promising a payment of 450 patacas for the “service”.
As requested by the person in charge, the duo entered the flat, took the 30 used phones and then left the flat the spokesperson said. However, the spokesperson pointed out, Ho did not leave the building afterwards, but cut off the electricity supply to the flat and returned to the unit to steal the remaining 102 used phones as the closed-circuit television (CCTV) equipment was not operating. She then immediately gave the 102 used phones to an accomplice to sell them in the mainland.
Instead of smuggling the 30 used phones to the designated place in the mainland as requested, the duo sold the 30 used phones in a second-hand mobile phone shop in the mainland and made a profit of 20,000 yuan, the spokesperson said.
In the early morning of Wednesday, the person in charge discovered that his goods had been stolen, and he then reported a loss of HK$260,000 to the police.
PJ officers intercepted the duo at 3 a.m. on Wednesday when they returned to Macau through the Qingmao pedestrian border checkpoint, and seized 40,000 yuan in cash from them, which PJ officers believed to be ill-gotten money.
PJ has informed the Macau Customs Service (SA) and the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ), the spokesperson said, adding that at the time of the press conference at least two other people involved in the case were still at large.
The duo were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing charges of aggravated theft and abuse of trust, the spokesperson said, adding that the Judiciary Police are trying to trace the whereabouts of the stolen goods and possible accomplices.
The student pair are escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters in Zape to a vehicle on Thursday. – Photo courtesy of TDM
