A Myanmarese woman was arrested on Thursday for stealing a handbag worth 40,000 patacas, Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Choi Iok Kin said at a regular press conference yesterday.
The suspect is a non-resident worker named Ohn in her forties. She told the police that she works as a domestic helper.
According to Choi, a female victim reported to the police on Wednesday at about 4:30 a.m. that her handbag worth about 40,000 patacas had disappeared. The victim told the police that she had had dinner with three friends on Tuesday night in a restaurant in Avenida do Nordeste. After dinner, she took a taxi with her friends to a hotel in Rua de Pequim, and dropped off one friend on the way in Avenida de Artur Tamagnini Barbosa. Choi said the victim discovered that her handbag had vanished when she arrived at the hotel. She immediately called her friend who had got out of the taxi in Avenida de Artur Tamagnini Barbosa but was unable to find her handbag. The victim also contacted the restaurant where she had had dinner. The staff confirmed that she had left the restaurant with her handbag after checking the eatery’s CCTV footage. The victim then reported the case to the police.
Thanks to CCTV footage, PSP officers discovered that the victim’s handbag fell out of the taxi when her friend got out of the vehicle in Avenida de Artur Tamagnini Barbosa. After more than 10 minutes, Ohn happened to pass by and picked up the handbag. PSP officers confirmed that Ohn lives in a flat in Istmo de Ferreira do Amaral. PSP officers went to the flat on Thursday morning and took Ohn in for questioning.
Ohn admitted that when she walked past the scene that night she picked up the handbag, which contained 1,500 patacas in cash and kept it, “out of greed”. The police found the stolen handbag and cash in her flat and seized the clothes Ohn wore when she committed the crime as pieces of evidence.
Ohn was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Friday, facing a theft-by-finding charge.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) on Monday shows PSP officers escorting the Myanmarese suspect to the PSP Intelligence Department.
