Macau’s total number of crimes reported in the first quarter of this year increased by 1.3 percent year on year to 3,332 from the 3,289 reported in the same period of last year, the Office of Secretary for Security Chan Tsz King has announced.
The office (GSS) announced Macau’s 2026 January-March crime statistics on its website on Thursday.
According to the website, 31.7 percent of the total number of crimes in the first three months, or 1,057 cases, were committed by non-locals while in Macau.
In April this year, the office announced Macau’s 2025 crime statistics only on its website. Previously, the office customarily held a press conference four times a year to announce Macau’s crime statistics, with the data also released on its website, except during the COVID-19 pandemic that affected Macau for three years from early 2020 through 2022, during which the office only announced Macau’s crime statistics regularly on its website – four times a year.
The office said in a statement in April that that the office would only announce Macau’s crime statistics regularly on its website, but with a press conference to be held to announce the data “whenever necessary”.
The office said in a statement on Thursday that it is scheduled to hold a press conference next time to announce Macau’s crime statistics for the first half of this year.
According to the statistics announced on the GSS website, the police recorded 63 violent crimes in the first quarter of this year, up 12.5 percent year on year, during which no homicides, no kidnappings, and only one grievous bodily harm case were recorded, all unchanged from the same period of last year.
According to the website, seven rape cases were reported in the first quarter of this year, a year-on-year decrease of three cases, while five cases of child sexual abuse, i.e., involving minors under the age of 14, were reported in the first three months of this year, unchanged from the same period of last year.
The police recorded 11 robbery cases in the first quarter of this year, up by one case year on year, while 19 drug trafficking cases were reported, up 58.3 percent from the same period of last year.
The number of fraud cases recorded in the first quarter of this year decreased by 10.6 percent year on year to 496 from the 555 recorded in the same period of last year, among which the number of phone scam cases dropped by 40.5 percent year on year to 44, while the number of online fraud cases decreased by 29.7 percent year on year to 102, according to the website.
The police investigated 585 gaming-related crimes in the first three months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 3.2 percent increase from the same period of last year, among which the police recorded 119 cases of illegal currency exchange activities, 45 cases of providing illegal gambling loans, and three cases of false imprisonment resulting from the illegal provision of gambling loans, down 9.8 percent, 11.8 percent, and 40.0 percent respectively from 2024.
According to the website, the police forces used their citywide CCTV surveillance system to investigate 2,906 cases in the first quarter of this year, a year-on-year increase of 26.2 percent increase from the 2,302 in the same period of last year.
The police recorded 29 drunk-driving cases in the first quarter of this year, up 52.6 percent from the same period of last year when 19 cases were reported.
This file photo released in March shows police officers conducting an operation to prevent and combat crime at a local casino in February. – Photo: SPU
