A local man and two male mainlanders were arrested separately on Monday for participating in illegal currency exchange and fraud, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Cheong Kim Fong said during a special press conference yesterday.
In the first case, there are two suspects. The 62-year-old local suspect surnamed U claimed to be jobless. The 34-year-old suspect is a non-resident worker (NRW) surnamed Lu, who is suspected to have been illegally employed by a restaurant.
According to Cheong, PJ officers on patrol saw Lu providing an illegal currency exchange deal to a man from the mainland after talking to U in a casino in Cotai on Monday afternoon. U displayed a payment QR code for the male gambler and handed over HK$10,000 to him after receiving 9,700 yuan. PJ officers apprehended them on the spot and confiscated HK$210,000 from Lu.
Under questioning, both suspects admitted to engaging in illegal currency exchanges since December. U’s job was it to find customers, while Lu was tasked with conducting the transactions. They made a profit of 350 yuan each in this deal.
In the second case, the 46-year-old male suspect surnamed Cai is a non-resident worker employed by a restaurant.
According to Cheong, a man from the mainland met Cai in December while gambling in Macau when they struck a currency exchange deal and exchanged contact information. Cai contacted the man for another currency exchange deal on Sunday after he discovered that he was gambling in Macau. The man showed interest as he wanted to transfer his winnings to the mainland. After negotiating the terms, both agreed to exchange HK$3 million into 2.8 million yuan. They arranged to meet in the lobby of a casino in Cotai for the transaction. The man handed over HK$3 million to Cai after the latter had promised to transfer the money to the victim’s mainland bank account within a few hours.
However, by Monday the man had still not received the money, so he contacted Cai in the morning. Cai claimed that he had already gambled away HK$2.3 million of the HK$3 million that he had received from the victim so that he still only had HK$700,000 on him. He returned the HK$700,000 to the man and signed an IOU for the HK$2.3 million, promising to pay it back as soon as possible. Later that day, the man met Cai in another lobby of a casino in Cotai and requested he return the money right away. Cai refused and attempted to escape, but security guards intervened and apprehended him. The man then reported the case to the police later that day.
Under questioning, Cai refused to cooperate. The police confirmed that he had not gambled the money away, as he had claimed, and seized HK$2 million from him.
The three suspects were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday and are facing charges of illegal currency exchange activities. Cai is additionally facing a charge of fraud.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the two hooded suspects to a PJ van outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the hooded suspect to a PJ van outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. – Photos : Ada Lei
