A mainlander was arrested on Wednesday for overstaying for two years and using a fake South Korean passport to stay in a local hotel, and he allegedly also used false ID data to fill out the Macau Health Code so that he could gamble in the casinos, Public Security Police (PSP) spokeswoman Lai In Hong said in a regular press conference on Friday.
A hotel front desk staff member was also arrested for aiding and abetting, Lai said.
The 30-year-old man is surnamed Zhang. He holds an Exit-Entry Permit for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macau (colloquially known as a Two-way Permit), and he has overstayed since August 6, 2018. The other suspect is a non-local resident surnamed Zhou who told the police that she works on the hotel’s front desk.
According to Lai, PSP officers stopped a taxi in Avenida de Lopo Sarmento de Carvalho near Hotel Lisboa with Zhang inside on Wednesday. Zhang failed to show his ID and claimed to be Korean, and showed a photo of a South Korean passport on his smartphone. PSP officers searched for the information and found no entry records. Zhang then claimed that he had entered Macau with a Hong Kong ID card. He also claimed that he lived in a City University of Macau dormitory. PSP officers realised that Zhang was lying.
After further investigation, PSP officers discovered Zhang is a mainlander and found a hotel room card on him. Officers searched the guestroom of the hotel in the city centre and discovered a forged South Korean passport as well as 57 screenshots of the Macau Health Code and Guangdong Health Code on Zhang’s laptop. PSP officers suspect that Zhang used computer software to forge the health codes to facilitate entry and exit of local casinos.
Lai said Zhang had been deported and barred from entering Macau until June 2018 for overstaying and theft. Zhang legally re-entered Macau in July 2018 and has overstayed since then. Zhang confessed that during his stay in Macau, he had been staying at saunas. Since the saunas were temporarily closed after the outbreak of COVID-19 epidemic, he bought the fake passport online in February and used it book hotel rooms.
PSP officers also arrested the non-local hotel front desk staff member named Zhou who had helped Zhang check in with his fake South Korean passport. Zhou claimed that she did not know Zhang and did not pay attention to the authenticity of Zhang’s passport.
Zhang and Zhou have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP). Zhang faces charges of computer forgery and violation of epidemic prevention measures, while Zhou faces charges of aiding and abetting, according to Lai.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) on Friday shows PSP officers escorting the suspect (centre) to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) in Nape.
