A 60-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday morning for operating an illegal mahjong parlour in his flat in Toi San district, Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Cheuk Kou Chi said during a regular press conference yesterday.
The suspect is a jobless mainlander holding a Two-way Permit surnamed Chen. Three gamblers – two men and a woman, aged between 60 and 70, were taken in for questioning at the scene.
According to Cheuk, the police received a report from a resident on Tuesday morning that Chen was running an illegal mahjong parlour in his flat in Rua do Canal das Hortas in Toi San district. The police officers went to the flat and arrested Chen who was playing mahjong with the three gamblers, and 1,400 patacas were seized.
Under questioning, Chen said that he had run the parlour since February, earning about 3,000 patacas monthly. Chen told the police that his daughter is renting the flat for him. He insisted that his daughter did not know that he was using the flat as a mahjong parlour.
The three gamblers told the police that the winners needed to pay Chen 10 patacas for each round they won.
Chen and the three gamblers were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday morning for further investigation. Chen faces a charge of running an illegal gambling business.
This handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows PSP officers escorting the four illegal mahjong parlour suspects to a vehicle outside the crime scene in Toi San district on Tuesday.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows evidence seized from the mahjong parlour suspects – 1,400 patacas in cash and a “cash bucket” used by the operator of the illicit parlour.
