A Hong Kong man was arrested in the lobby of a hotel in the city centre on Tuesday for stealing two motorcycles parked in street and going on joy rides last Friday and on Sunday, Lai In Hong, a spokeswoman for the Public Security Police (PSP), said at a regular press conference yesterday.
The man, surnamed Lee, who is in his twenties had entered Macau as a visitor and stayed in his relatives’ home.
According to Lai, the first case occurred on Friday last week. The victim forgot to remove the key from his motorcycle’s ignition when parking it on Rua da Praia do Manduco (下環街) in the Inner Harbour district at 6:30 a.m., and found it had been stolen when he returned to where he had parked it at 3:30 p.m. that day so he reported the case to the police.
After scrutinising the police forces’ citywide CCTV camera system, PSP officers found that a man, Lee, started to ride the motorcycle without a helmet at about 10:30 a.m. and abandoned it at Rotunda de S. João Bosco (鮑思高圓形地) due to the vehicle breaking down.
According to Lai, the second case occurred on Sunday. When the suspect was walking along Travessa das Virtudes (道德巷) in the Inner Harbour district at 11:45 p.m., he noticed a motorcycle with a key left in the front storage compartment. After removing a helmet from another motorcycle parked nearby, he drove to Rua de Constantino Brito (貢士旦甸奴街) in the Inner Harbour district, and parked it there. The owner of the motorcycle did not discover that his or her vehicle had been stolen until Tuesday evening.
The police recovered the two stolen motorcycles. Besides, the second victim told the police that HK$2,000 in cash had been stolen from his or her motorcycle.
Under questioning by the police, according to Lai, Lee admitted to stealing the two motorcycles and riding them around “out of curiosity”, but he denied stealing the cash from the second vehicle.
Lee has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) for further questioning, facing charges of theft and vehicle theft.
Moreover, Lai said, the police found that Lee had committed a raft of driving offences while riding the two motorcycles, such as driving without a licence, driving on pavements, riding without a helmet, reversing against the flow of traffic, speeding, and jumping red lights.
Public Security Police (PSP) spokeswoman Lai In Hong looks on during yesterday’s regular press conference. – Photo: Armindo Neves
