The number of reported robbery cases and rape cases increased 29.8 percent and 68.4 percent respectively in the first three quarters of this year, Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak said yesterday.
Wong announced the January-September crime statistics during a press conference at the S. Francisco Barracks yesterday. The Macau Public Security Forces are headquartered at Macau’s erstwhile Portuguese garrison barracks.
Overall crime up 0.4 pct
According to Wong, the total number of crimes reported in the first three quarters slightly increased by 0.4 percent year-on-year, from 10,559 to 10,598.
Wong said that the number of reported violent crime cases rose 16.2 percent year-on-year, from 450 to 523, in the nine-month period. He said that the rise in violent crime cases was mainly due to an increase in the number of false imprisonment and robbery cases.
According to Wong, the police investigated 278 suspected cases of false imprisonment during the first nine months, a year-on-year increase of 19.8 percent, 274 cases of which involved loan sharks.
Some of the gamblers defaulting on their instant gambling debts are held against their will by loan sharks in a hotel room or private flat to put pressure on the victims’ family and friends to pay up.
The 274 false imprisonment cases involving loan sharks reported in the first three quarters represented a 25.7 percent increase from the 218 cases reported during the first nine months of last year, Wong said.472 loan-sharking cases
According to the crime statistics for the first three quarters released on the website of Wong’s office, the police recorded 472 loan-sharking cases in the first three quarters, a year-on-year increase of 17.1 percent.
Wong said that 471 were casino loan-sharking cases, a 20.8 percent increase from the 390 casino loan-sharking cases reported during the first nine months of last year.
Wong noted that most of the suspects and victims involved in loan-sharking and false imprisonment cases in the first three quarters were non-locals. In the reported false imprisonment cases, 99.1 percent of the suspects and all the victims were non-locals, while in the loan-sharking cases, 94.6 percent of the suspects and 97.6 percent of the victims were non-locals, he said.
Wong emphasised that most of the loan-sharking cases and false imprisonment cases recorded in the first three quarters occurred in, or originated from, casinos and that “ so far there has been no indication” that the occurrence of the two types of crimes has extended beyond casino activities. He added that consequently these two kinds of crimes were still not posing a threat to Macau’s public security as a whole.
Robberies in hotels & ‘quiet places’
Wong also said that the police recorded 61 robbery cases during the first nine months, a year-on-year increase of 29.8 percent. Wong said that many of the robbery cases happened in hotels and in “quiet places” in the street. Among the 61 robbery cases, 25 occurred in hotels, a year-on-year increase of nine cases, Wong said, adding that more than half of the cases in hotels involved illegal money changers. Wong said that 18 out of the robbery cases happened in quiet places in the street, adding that most of the victims were robbed late at night.
Wong said that in response, the police have strengthened their patrols in and around hotels and reinforced their efforts in combating illegal money-changing activities. He urged residents to avoid going to quiet places alone.
Over half of rape victims & suspects were non-locals
According to Wong, 32 rape cases were reported during the first nine months, a year-on-year increase of 68.4 percent. Wong noted that more than half of the victims and suspects were non-locals, adding that most of the cases happened in guestrooms of casino-hotel resorts or hotels. Wong also said that the police did not rule out the possibility that some of the reported cases involved commercial sex services.
Wong also said that 11 cases of child sex abuse were recorded during the first nine months, three cases down year-on-year.
Sexual abuse of children refers to the situation in which a person has any kind of sexual contact with a minor under the age of 14.
Moreover, five cases of sexual intercourse with a person aged between 14 and 16 were reported in the first three quarters, three cases up year-on-year, Wong said, adding that the five victims engaged in consensual sex.
‘Very few’ serious violent crimes
Wong said that “no or very few” serious violent crime cases such as kidnapping, homicide and grievous bodily harm were reported during the first nine months.
According to the website of Wong’s office, the police recorded three cases of grievous bodily harm in the first three quarters, two cases down year-on-year.
Wong said that two homicide cases were reported in the first three quarters, pointing out that both happened in the first half of this year.
Wong also said that the police investigated 1,059 fraud cases in the first three quarters of this year, a year-on-year increase of 21.6 percent. He said that there was a large increase in the number of cases of fraud related to casino activities during the first nine months, when 291 such cases were reported, 116 more than in the same period of last year. He said that many of the 291 cases involved illegal money changers and loan sharks.
More cyber sex traps
According to the website of Wong’s office, the number of reported cyber scam cases increased by 66 in the first three quarters, from 162 cases during the first nine months of last year to 228 cases during the same period of this year.
Wong said that among the reported cyber fraud cases in the first three quarters, the number of cases involving sex traps increased by 48, from 21 cases during the first nine months of last year to 69 cases during the same period of this year.
Young jobless drug pushers from HK
Wong also said that the police recorded 94 drug-selling cases during the first nine months, three cases more than in the same period of last year, or a year-on-year increase of 3.3 percent, adding that the 94 cases involved 154 suspects. Wong noted that 82 of the 154 suspects were Hong Kong residents, 27 more than in the same period of last year.
Wong pointed out that the drug-selling suspects from Hong Kong in the first three quarters were mostly unemployed young people hired by Hong Kong gangs to sell drugs in Macau “for a high reward.”
Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak (centre) speaks during yesterday’s press conference at the S. Francisco Barracks about the city’s Q1 to Q3 crime statistics, as his chief-of-cabinet Cheong Ioc Ieng (second from right), Unitary Police Service (SPU) Commissioner-General Ma Io Kun (second from left), Public Security Police (PSP) Commissioner Leong Man Cheong (first from left) and Judiciary Police (PJ) Director Sit Chong Meng look on. Photo: Iong Tat Choi
