Five Mongolians aged 20 to 40 were arrested on Wednesday after stealing clothes valued at 34,000 patacas from shops in a shopping mall of a hotel in Cotai, with two of the suspects also found to be entangled in drug activities, a Public Security Police (PSP) spokesperson said in a press conference on Friday.
According to the spokesperson, the four men and one woman, who told the police that they are jobless, businesspeople and self-employed, separately entered Macau on January 7, 13 and 15, and then set up a “theft gang”.
On Wednesday, PSP officers received a report that a gang stole a total of 120 items of clothing worth 34,000 patacas from at least three shops in a shopping mall in a hotel in Cotai, with one of the shops saying that clothes worth 5,000 patacas in total had been stolen.
PSP officers identified the gang and arrested them on Wednesday in the lobby of the resort where they committed the crime, when the suspects were sharing the stolen garments out, the statement said, adding that PSP officers seized a powerful magnet, believed to have been used for removing the security tags on the stolen clothing, from one of the male suspects’ belongings, and drug paraphernalia from two of the male suspects’ belongings.
One of the suspects tested positive for methamphetamine – also known as ice, the spokesperson said.
The five suspects were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Wednesday, facing charges of aggravated theft, while one of the male suspects faces additional charges of drug use and possession of drug-taking paraphernalia, and another male suspect faces an additional charge of possession of drug-taking tools.
This undated photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) on Friday shows PSP officers escorting the five Mongolian theft suspects to a police station.
