Judiciary Police (PJ) busted an illegal currency exchange case at a hotel in Cotai during an anti-crime operation on Wednesday afternoon, PJ spokesman Ho Wai Lok said during a special press conference yesterday.
Ho identified the suspect as a local 37-year-old female surnamed Chao who claimed to be jobless.
According to Ho, PJ officers discovered during the operation that Chao and a male gambler were negotiating an illegal currency exchange, prompting an ad hoc investigation. The officers confirmed that earlier that afternoon Chao had approached the gambler at the hotel’s shopping mall, offering to exchange 42,750 yuan for chips worth HK$45,000. After the gambler transferred the money via QR code, Chao entered the casino and handed over the chips in her possession to him, who then proceeded to gamble.
Ho said Chao made a profit of 750 yuan from the illegal currency exchange deal. Further investigations revealed that Chao had been conducting unlawful exchange activities in and around various casinos in Macau since November 2024, accumulating a total profit of 90,000 yuan to date.
According to Ho, during the investigation, authorities seized chips worth HK$58,300 from Chao, intended as “reserve funds” for the currency exchanges, as well as a mobile phone used for the transfers. Additionally, chips worth HK$30,000 involved in the case were seized from the gambler who turned witness in the case.
All the chips and the mobile phone have been confiscated for further investigation.
The suspect has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing charges of operating a gaming-related illegal currency exchange business.
Evidence – chips and a phone – is displayed before a special press conference at the Judiciary Police headquarters yesterday about an illegal currency exchange case involving a local woman and a mainland man. – Photo: Armindo Neves
