The Judiciary Police busted a jewellery shop moonlighting as an illegal currency exchange den and nabbed four local men on Thursday in a case involving around HK$90 million (92 million patacas), PJ spokesman Ho Wai Lok said during a special press conference on Friday.
Ho identified the four suspects as a 51-year-old jewellery shop owner surnamed Chak, and three salesmen age between 30 and 44, surnamed Wong, Tong and Che.
According to Ho, after receiving a tipoff on Thursday, the Judiciary Police launched an investigation and conducted surveillance of a jewellery shop at a casino-hotel resort in Cotai. PJ officers observed two mainlanders entering the store separately and engaging in illegal currency exchange activities with three male employees inside, Ho said.
After the transactions were completed via QR code transfers, Ho said the three salesmen immediately handed over the Hong Kong dollars in cash. The two customers then exchanged the cash for casino chips and proceeded to gamble, at which point they were intercepted and inspected by Judiciary Police officers, Ho said.
PJ officers arrested the three salesmen inside the shop and apprehended Chak in a flat in Taipa, according to Ho.
Based on a follow-up investigation, Ho said, PJ officers confirmed that the shop had operated in the resort since January 2023 and began engaging in illegal currency exchange activities in August 2025. The three salesmen were instructed by Chak to carry out the illicit activities.
According to Ho, PJ officers seized cash suspected to be used for illegal currency exchange activities, totalling HK$844,000, 25,900 patacas, and 5,100 yuan. Evidence including mobile phones, tablets, and cash-counting machines was also confiscated. Additionally, HK$16,500 worth of chips involved in Thursday’s case were recovered from the two gamblers. Preliminary estimates indicate that the total amount of currency illegally exchanged at the shop between August 2025 and Thursday amounts to around HK$90 million.
The quartet have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing an illegal currency exchange charge each.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the four hooded illegal currency exchange suspects from the PJ headquarters in Zape to a van on Friday. – Photo: Armindo Neves
