A male taxi driver has been arrested for illegal possession of seven bullets which he obtained from his employer decades ago when he worked as a security guard and which he did not return to the security company when he quit his job in the 1990s, Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Cheong Heon Fan said during a regular press conference yesterday.

According to Cheong, the case emerged after the police had received a report by the Identification Services Bureau (DSI) about a suspected sham marriage so that police officers on Tuesday went to the cabbie’s flat where they found the seven bullets.

Under questioning, the suspect, however, denied his alleged involvement in the marriage of convenience, for which he allegedly was paid 138,000 patacas by a 50-year-old woman from the mainland to marry her so that she could apply to reside in Macau.

Cheong identified the suspect as a 50-year-old local surnamed Lo.

When scrutinising marriage registrations, officials of the Identification Services Bureau recently discovered something awry concerning the marriage between Lo and his “wife”, and decided to transfer the case to the police for further investigation, according to Cheong.

PSP officers went to Lo’s flat in Avenida do Conselheiro Ferreira de Almeida on Tuesday, Cheong said, adding that Lo’s family members told the police that the cabbie had divorced his wife years ago and that they did not know that he had married a woman from the mainland.

According to Cheong, Lo told the police that in March 2015 he married his current “wife” surnamed Tan whom he had met in a night entertainment venue on the mainland.

PSP officers discovered that both have had little contact with each other and that there were no evidence of them living together in the flat, Cheong said.

PSP officers also discovered that about 140,000 patacas had been deposited into Lo’s bank account, Cheong said, adding that the cabbie could not explain the source of the money. However, he denied that his marriage to Tan was a sham.

According to Cheong, PSP officers happened to find seven bullets in Lo’s flat, comprising five 0.38 calibre and two 0.32 calibre bullets.

Under questioning, Lo told the police that the seven bullets were given to him by a security company in 1979 when he was working as a bank security guard, Cheong said. Lo admitted that he did not return the bullets when he quit his job in the security company in 1994, Cheong said.

Cheong said that the police were still looking for Lo’s “wife”.

Cheong said that Lo has been transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) for possible arraignments on a charge of possession of illegal weapons and a document forgery charge.

Illegal weapons possession offenders face a prison term of up to eight years, according to the Macau Penal Code.

According to the government, the police can currently only take action against those involved in bogus marriages based on document forgery charges listed in the current law on illegal immigration, overstaying and deportation enacted in 2004, according to which the offender faces a prison term of between two and eight years.

The government launched a one-month public consultation in May this year on the drafting of a new immigration, stay and residency bill with the aim of enabling more effective law enforcement for when immigration officers carry out their work and with the aim of tackling the various irregularities resulting from illegal immigration.

The public consultation ended on June 6. The draft bill proposes a new category of crime for marriages of convenience. Sham marriage defendants will face prison terms of two to eight years, according to the proposed legislation.

This undated handout photo released by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows the seven bullets – five 0.38 calibre and two 0.32 calibre – in a bag seized from the suspect’s flat yesterday.

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