A 55-year-old local man surnamed Mak, allegedly involved in four armed robberies before Macau’s return to the motherland in 1999, was yesterday transferred to Macau by the Guangdong Public Security Bureau, the head of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Judiciary Police (PJ), Vong Chi Hong, said during a special conference in the area between Zhuhai’s Gongbei and Macau’s Barrier Gate checkpoints.
Vong said that Mak and his fellow gang members are suspected of robbing two local banks, Casino Lisboa and Casino Taipa at the Hyatt Hotel (now called the Regency Art Hotel) between 1991 and 1994, after which they escaped to the mainland. The four cases’ haul amounted to more than 43 million patacas in cash and chips, according to Vong. A large number of firearms such as submachine guns and pistols were used in the robberies.
According to Vong, Mak’s gang consisted of four locals and six mainlanders who were arrested in Zhuhai and other places in the mainland in 1994 and 1995. Mak was sentenced to death by a mainland court. His sentence was later commuted to a fixed-term imprisonment until his transfer to Macau yesterday.
Vong said that Mak was the kingpin of an organised crime gang involved in the four cases. He was mainly responsible for buying firearms, planning the robberies, recruiting the gang’s mainland members, arranging their illegal entry into Macau and providing accommodation during their stay here.
Vong added that Mak’s charges in the mainland court did not include some of the crimes he committed in Macau, and that’s why he was transferred to Macau to stand trial here. He was taken from the Barrier Gate checkpoint to the local prison in Coloane. According to Vong, in Macau Mak faces charges of carjacking and aiding and abetting illegal immigration.Vong said that criminal suspects will be caught wherever they are, in Macau, in the mainland or elsewhere.
The hooded suspect is transferred by the Guangdong Public Security Police to the Judiciary Police (PJ) yesterday in the area between Zhuhai’s Gongbei and Macau’s Barrier Gate checkpoints. Photo: Iong Tat Choi
