The Judiciary Police (PJ) arrested a mainlander for theft on an aeroplane, PJ spokesman Cheong Siu Keong said during a special press conference on Saturday.
Cheong identified the suspect as a 55-year-old man surnamed Guo, who told police that he’s a farmer.
Thieves stealing valuable on board a plane are known as “jet rats” (“fei gei lou syu”) in Cantonese slang.
According to Cheong, on Friday, the victim boarded a flight from Macau to Thailand and placed his backpack in the overhead luggage compartment.
Upon realising that he was in the wrong seat, Cheong said that the victim retrieved his backpack and discovered that HK$43,000 in cash inside it had vanished. The victim immediately notified the flight attendants, who reported the incident to the police, Cheong said.
At that time, the plane was still at the local airport, waiting to takeoff.
Cheong said that Guo, seated nearby, took the initiative to inform the victim then that he had found a paper bag containing cash in another luggage compartment. The victim confirmed that the amount was the same as that that had disappeared from his backpack, but he also told the police that the paper bag did not belong to him.
Upon an investigation, Cheong said that PJ officers discovered that Guo had stolen the money and hidden it inside the paper bag of another passenger, intending to retrieve it later. However, because the victim noticed the loss and reported it immediately, Guo pretended to be “helpful” by pointing out the bag, Cheong said.
A follow investigation, Cheong said, revealed that Guo was also linked to another similar case. In November, a passenger from the Chinese mainland had 4,000 yuan stolen while on a flight from Bangkok to Macau, Cheong said.
That victim only discovered the theft after arriving in Macau and checking into a hotel, at which point he reported the incident, according to Cheong.
In the Friday’s case, PJ officers seized various non-local currencies equivalent to around HK$4,600 from the suspect.
Guo has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing a theft charge.
Various non-local currencies equivalent to around HK$4,600 seized from Guo on Friday and HK$43,000 allegedly stolen by him onboard a plane ready to depart for Thailand on that day are displayed during Saturday’s special press conference at the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters in Zape. – Photo: Armindo Neves
