The Judiciary Police (PJ) arrested a man from Guangzhou on Tuesday for stealing valuables from eight “careless” restaurant patrons since 2015, PJ spokesman Tam Weng Keong said during a special press conference yesterday.
Tam identified the suspect as a 53-year-old businessman surnamed He.
On December 9, a local man hung his jacket on the back of his chair while he was having his lunch in a restaurant in the city centre. After lunch, the victim discovered that his wallet in his jacket’s inside pocket had disappeared, Tam said, adding that he discovered later that the credit card that was in his wallet had been used. He suffered a financial loss of 90,000 patacas and reported the case to the police.
According to Tam, CCTV footage showed that the suspect went into the restaurant on that day and looked for potential victims.
The footage showed the suspect walking close to the victim and taking the wallet out of his jacket’s inside pocket before leaving the restaurant.
According to Tam, PJ officers also discovered that after the suspect stole the victim’s wallet he went to a jeweller’s in the city centre and bought jewellery using the victim’s credit card, before leaving Macau later that day.
After investigating, PJ officers discovered that after the suspect had entered Macau from the mainland on that day, he changed his clothes and put on a wig, before he went to the restaurant to look for potential victims, Tam said.
The police also compared last month’s case with previous theft cases in which restaurant patrons’ valuables were stolen in a similar way. PJ officers confirmed that the suspect stole valuables from restaurant patrons in a similar way in another six cases between 2015 and last year, Tam said.
According to Tam, in the six cases the suspect stole the victims’ valuables when they were having lunch in restaurants in the city centre and in Zape.
The police confirmed that the suspect had entered Macau from the mainland again on Saturday. PJ officers arrested the suspect on Tuesday when he was about to leave Macau via the Barrier Gate border checkpoint, Tam said.
According to Tam, PJ officers discovered that the suspect had again stolen valuables from a victim using the same modus operandi on New Year’s Day, after which he used this victim’s credit card.
In five of the eight cases, the suspect used the victims’ credit cards for purchases in shops in the city centre, Tam said.
According to Tam, the shops’ CCTV footage showed that in addition to the suspect, there were another two men who used the victims’ credit cards. The police are now looking for the two accomplices, according to Tam.
The eight victims lost a total of 606,800 patacas, Tam said, adding the biggest loss involved 240,000 patacas cash in a case which happened in 2015, Tam said.
Except for the case on December 9, the other seven victims were mainlanders, Tam said, adding that the victims admitted that they had been “careless”.
Tam said that the suspect would be transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) for further questioning.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the hooded theft suspect to a PJ vehicle outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. Photos: Iong Tat Choi
Clothing and the wig that the theft suspect used as well as cash are displayed in a pressroom of the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters yesterday.
