The Judiciary Police (PJ) arrested 31 men and women from the mainland in Taipa yesterday for alleged membership of a loan-sharking gang which had offered casino patrons instant gambling loans during the past six months.
Last week, the Judiciary Police received a tip-off about suspected loan sharks staying in a residential estate in Rua de Coimbra. At 6 a.m. yesterday, PJ officers raided two flats in the 7th block of Nova City, where 19 male and 12 female suspects, including two alleged masterminds and an illegal immigrant, were apprehended, PJ spokesman Choi Ian Fai said during a special press conference.
In one of the flats, PJ officers found tens of thousands of Hong Kong dollars in cash and an IOU. According to Choi, the police are still investigating how much money had been lent and whether the suspects in the two flats belonged to the same criminal gang.
PJ officers escort the loan-sharking suspects to a police vehicle in Rua de Coimbra in Taipa yesterday. Photo: Iong Tat Choi
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