The Public Security Police (PSP) arrested four Mongolians for theft on Thursday, PSP spokeswoman Lai In Hong said during a regular press conference yesterday.
Lai identified the quartet a comprising three men and a woman, all of them in their thirties who claimed to be jobless.
According to Lai, the Public Security Police received a report from a female victim on Thursday stating that while trying on clothes in a garment store located at a hotel in Taipa, her belongings in her handbag placed outside a fitting room were stolen. The loss included credit cards, an ATM card and 800 patacas in cash, Lai said.
Based on the CCTV footage, Lai said that PSP officers identified the quartet as the suspects in the case, adding that PSP officers found them in a hotel in Taipa.
According to Lai, during the operation, PSP plainclothes officers observed one of the suspects reaching into the trouser back pocket of a man, in what appeared to be an attempt to pick the man’s pocket. The four suspects immediately left the scene afterwards, Lai said.
PSP officers promptly intercepted them and seized 230 euros (2,130 patacas) in cash, six smartphones and a quantity of stolen clothing, according to Lai.
A follow-up investigation revealed that the quartet had entered Macau on Wednesday and had stolen at least 10 items of clothing from three shops at the hotel, with a total estimated value of around 5,600 patacas, Lai said.
The quartet have meanwhile been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing theft charges.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows PSP officers escorting the four Mongolian theft suspects to a police station.
