A woman from the mainland was arrested on Monday for theft by finding after stealing chips worth HK$15,000 that had been left on a toilet cistern, Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Cheong Heon Fan said during a regular press conference yesterday.
Cheong identified the suspect as a woman surnamed Xu, who is in her forties. She told the police that she is jobless and holds an Exit-Entry Permit for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macau.
According to Cheong, the Public Security Police (PSP) received a report on March 17 from a mainland woman who said that her HK$15,000 in chips which she had forgotten to pick up from the top of a toilet cistern after using the toilet at a casino in Cotai had disappeared. She returned to the toilet a minute later to search for the chips but could not find them. She told the police she remembered that when she had left the toilet, a woman was entering the facility. She suspected that someone had taken her chips, and reported the incident to the police.
Cheong noted that through the city-wide CCTV network and the casino’s surveillance footage, the police identified Xu as the suspect and intercepted her at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge checkpoint on Monday.
Under questioning, Xu admitted to taking the chips out of greed. She told the police that she had meanwhile gambled away all the stolen chips.
Xu has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing a charge of theft by finding, according to Cheong.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows PSP officers escorting the suspect into a police station.
