A man was arrested on Saturday for cheating his friend out of more than 50,000 yuan (58,600 patacas), and the suspect later confessed that he lost most of the ill-gotten money gambling in a casino in Zape, Judicial Police (PJ) spokesman Lai Chio Hong said at a regular press conference yesterday.
Lai said the suspect, a mainlander surnamed Zhuang, told police he is a 43-year-old private driver. According to Lai, a man in around his twenties reported the case to the police on December 19 last year. Lai pointed out that the man and Zhuang were friends who decided to form a partnership and rent a flat in the central district to run an illegal inn.
Lai said after the victim paid Zhuang 57,800 yuan he could not contact the latter. Lai said the victim felt like he had been cheated and decided to report the case to the police.
According to the spokesman, last Saturday, when Zhuang returned to Macau via the Barrier Gate checkpoint, he was arrested. Lai pointed out that Zhuang confessed to the crime and said that he paid a 9,000 pataca deposit for the flat but he lost the remaining money in gambling afterwards.
Lai also said that the suspect told the police that he left Macau after he gambled away the money and could not return due to the novel coronavirus pandemic until recently.
Zhuang was transferred to Public Prosecutions Office (MP) and faces abuse of trust charges.
