The Judiciary Police (PJ) have arrested two men and three women, members of a pickpocketing gang from the Philippines, in a resort hotel in Cotai, seizing a quantity of valuables and HK$124,000 in cash, PJ spokesman Choi Ian Fai said on Friday during a special press conference at the PJ headquarters in Zape.
Choi said that a 50-year-old man surnamed Guinto, who is among the five suspects and the allege mastermind of the gang, has a criminal record for robbery and theft in his home country. The other four suspects aged between 31 and 46 have various occupations including sales assistant and driver.
According to Choi, the Judiciary Police received a report on August 11 from a mainland woman who was visiting Macau with her husband and daughter. She told PJ officers that she was carrying her daughter and waiting to cross the road near a hotel in Zape when someone opened her handbag and stole HK$40,000 in cash. During the investigation, police officers checked video surveillance footage from various cameras, and identified the five suspects – who were staying at the hotel in Cotai.
This undated handout photo released by the Judiciary Police (PJ) on Friday shows valuables and cash seized from a five-member of gang of pickpockets from the Philippines in a hotel in Cotai, displayed in a PJ press room.
