A mainlander was arrested on Sunday for stealing a brand named watch worth 185,000 yuan from a fellow passenger on a Macau-bound flight, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam said at a special press conference yesterday.
Thieves who steal property while travelling on a plane are colloquially known in Cantonese as “jet rats” (“feigei louhsyu”).
The 44-year-old suspect surnamed Meng told the police that he is a businessman.
According to Ho, the male victim reported the case to the police on March 10. He told the police that he flew from Bangkok to Macau on the previous day. He put his rucksack in the overhead luggage compartment and took a rest. After he arrived in Macau and checked into a hotel, he discovered that his brand named watch worth 185,000 yuan had vanished from his backpack. He reported the case to the police.
According to Ho, PJ officers discovered that Meng was on the same plane as the victim on March 9. He hocked the watch for HK$13,000 in a pawnshop in Nape the next day and went straight to the airport and left Macau. PJ officers were able to retrieve the watch from the pawnshop. Meng arrived in Macau on a flight from Hangzhou on Sunday evening and was arrested by the police at the airport. He refused to cooperate with the police’s investigation.
Meng was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing fraud and aggravated theft charges, according to Ho.
The hooded suspect is escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters in Zape to a vehicle yesterday. Photo: Iong Tat Choi
