Local, Zhuhai police nab 4 suspects in HK$3.1 million pepper spray casino chip robbery

The local police and their counterparts in Zhuhai have arrested four mainlanders – three males and a female – for their alleged involvement in Friday’s gambling chip robbery at the Plaza Casino in the Four Seasons Hotel in Cotai in which two men robbed chips worth HK$3.1 million by attacking first a security guard and then a dealer with pepper spray, the Judiciary Police (PJ) announced in a special press conference at the weekend.

The press conference about the case, hosted by several PJ officers, took place shortly after midnight on Saturday.

The four suspects were arrested on Friday night. The robbery happened at around 5:30 a.m. on Friday.

According to the press conference, the two robbers – the two main suspects in the case – were arrested in Zhuhai, while the woman – the third suspect – and the other man were arrested in Macau.

Before leaving Macau for the mainland, one of the two robbers handed the chips to the female suspect. The man arrested in Macau – the fourth suspect – did not belong to the three-member gang.

The woman’s role in the gang was to ask someone – the fourth suspect – to help change the chips into cash in Macau and smuggle the proceeds into the mainland. However, the woman and the fourth suspect were arrested by the Judiciary Police before the deal could get off the ground.

Before the woman and the fourth suspect were arrested by PJ officers, the woman had handed a number of chips to the fourth suspect for him to change into cash. Most of the robbed chips were seized by PJ officers from a hotel guestroom in Cotai where the woman was staying. The two robbers left Macau on Friday morning. During Friday night’s operation, all the robbed chips were recovered by PJ officers.

Lai Man Vai, who heads the Special Investigation Division of the Intelligence and Support Department of the Judiciary Police (PJ), shows reporters during Saturday’s press conference a photo of one of the two robbers dressed as a woman.

Several PJ officers show the media the cash and chips seized from the chip robbery case during Saturday’s press conference in a pressroom of the PJ headquarters.Photos: Maria Cheang Ut Meng

A pepper spray used by one of the two robbers is displayed during Saturday’s press conference. Photo: Maria Cheang Ut Meng

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