The police arrested a woman from the mainland on Sunday for robbing a female money-changer in a lobby in a Cotai casino resort, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said during a special press conference at the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday.

The victim is a 37-year-old woman from the mainland. Her surname was not released. The victim told the police that she runs a currency-exchange business via text messages, according to Chan. The suspect is a 35-year-old woman from the mainland surnamed Xu. She told the police she is a housewife.

The incident happened at around 10 p.m. on March 30. The victim received a text message from a potential customer – Xu – asking to exchange yuan into Hong Kong dollars.

Chan did not reveal the requested amount, nor did he say whether the victim transferred the money online to the customer.

The victim met Xu at the casino lobby at 1 a.m. As Xu claimed that the payment had not been transferred, she asked the victim to stay in a corner at the casino’s slot-machine area, Chan said.

According to Chan, Xu asked a waitress for some drinks.

Xu then secretly spiked one of the drinks with sleeping pills and gave the glass to the victim. About an hour later, Xu gave her one more spiked drink.

Both left the casino and walked to another hotel resort nearby. They arrived at the lobby where they chatted for about 40 minutes, as Xu claimed that she was still waiting for the online transfer. Suddenly, the victim fainted.

Xu then searched the victim for cash and valuables in the hotel lobby. A man – Xu’s accomplice – who had been trailing both appeared and joined Xu in the search.

According to Chan, both robbed the victim of HK$46,000 and 500 yuan in cash, her IDs and her mobile phone.

After the robbery, both suspects took a taxi from the hotel lobby in Cotai to Hotel Sintra. Then, they took another taxi from outside the hotel to the Barrier Gate checkpoint. During the taxi ride to the checkpoint, the male suspect gave Xu another set of clothes, and she changed her clothes in the taxi, Chan added.

The hotel staff woke up the victim in the lobby only two and a half hours after the robbery, according to Chan. She reported the case to the police in the morning of March 31, after which the case was transferred to the Judiciary Police by the Public Security Police (PSP) for follow-up investigation.

The police officers arrested Xu as she re-entered Macau through the Barrier Gate checkpoint at 4 p.m. on Sunday. Xu admitted that she and the male suspect, who was still at large at the time of yesterday’s press conference, committed the robbery together.

According to Chan, Xu told the police that the loot was divided equally between her and her accomplice. Xu said she used all the money to repay her gambling debts on the mainland

The police have transferred Xu to the Public Prosecution Office (MP), where Xu faces an aggravated robbery charge.

According to Article 204 of the Macau Penal Code, robbery is punishable by up to eight years’ imprisonment.

A female Judiciary Police (PJ) officer escorts the hooded robbery suspect to a PJ vehicle outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. Photo: Iong Tat Choi

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