A mainland woman in her thirties was arrested on Thursday for stealing a handbag and a bottle of perfume, worth a total of 9,300 patacas, from two shops in a shopping mall in Cotai after losing money on the tables, a Public Security Police (PSP) spokesperson said in a press conference yesterday.
According to the spokesperson, PSP officers received a report on Thursday that a staff member of a shop in a Cotai hotel said that a handbag worth 7,500 patacas had gone missing during stock-taking.
Upon reviewing security footage, PSP officers discovered that a woman had entered the shop around 10 a.m. and stolen the handbag, the spokesperson said.
After scrutinising CCTV footage, PSP officers identified the woman and intercepted her at 2 p.m. the same day, on Avenida Dr Rodrigo Rodrigues(羅理基博士大馬路), the spokesperson said.
During the search, officers recovered the stolen handbag containing a bottle of perfume, the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said that the woman admitted to stealing from two shops after losing money at a casino, adding that she also told PSP officers that she had entered Macau on December 8 and decided to steal after her gambling losses, in the hope of selling the handbag to local shops, but her attempts were unsuccessful.
The police contacted the shop from which the perfume was taken, revealing that it had also been a victim of theft, with the perfume valued at about 1,830 patacas, the spokesperson said.
In total, the two shops reported losses amounting to 9,330 patacas, the spokesperson said.
The woman has been transferred to the Public Precautions Office (MP), facing a theft charge.
This photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows PSP officers escorting the female mainland theft suspect to a police station in Taipa.
