A man from the mainland was arrested on Friday for theft by finding after stealing a backpack that had been left in a taxi, Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Cheong Heon Fan said during a regular press conference yesterday.
Cheong identified the suspect as a man surnamed Zhang, who is in his thirties. He told the police that he is jobless and holds an Exit-Entry Permit for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macau.
According to Cheong, the Public Security Police (PSP) received a report on January 6 from a mainland male student enrolled at the University of Macau (UM). The student told the police that he had left a backpack on January 5 in a taxi that had taken him from the local airport to the University of Macau campus in Hengqin. The backpack contained a laptop, a tablet, and a power bank, with a total value of 19,000 patacas. He searched for the backpack but couldn’t find it. He suspected that someone might have picked it up and reported the incident to the police the following day.
Cheong noted that through the citywide CCTV network and the taxi’s surveillance footage, the police identified Zhang as the suspect and intercepted him at the Barrier Gate checkpoint on Friday.
Under questioning, Zhang admitted to taking the backpack out of greed. He told the police that the backpack was at his home in the mainland.
Zhang has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing a charge of theft by finding, according to Cheong.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows PSP officers escorting the suspect into a police station.
