A man from Hong Kong was arrested on Saturday for stealing 706 second-hand mobile phones, totalling HK$1.859 million (1.913 million patacas), Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Cheong Siu Keong said during a special press conference yesterday.
Cheong identified the suspect as a 27-year-old man surnamed Cheung, who told the police that he is jobless. The victims are a local middle-aged man and a Hong Kong middle-aged woman.
According to Cheong, the two victims together purchased 706 second-hand mobile phones valued at HK$1.859 million from a local trading firm. Since they were not in Macau, they entrusted a man, who was still at large at the time of the press conference, to receive and store the phones in a flat in the northern district. The female victim received a message at 3 a.m. on Friday from the man, claiming that he had received and stored the phones. However, he returned to the flat at 5 a.m. and carried the 706 phones in two suitcases to a hotel lobby in Cotai. There, the man handed over the suitcases to Cheung and another accomplice. The man then left Macau through the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge checkpoint, while Cheung and his accomplice went to their guestroom and then left with a number of bags and backpacks. Afterwards, the duo left Macau through the Barrier Gate checkpoint with the 706 phones. The man then demanded HK$500,000 to return the phones to the victims, but they refused and reported the case to the police. The police later discovered two empty suitcases in the guestroom, indicating that the phones had meanwhile been transferred to the mainland.
The police apprehended Cheung on Saturday at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge checkpoint as he was re-entering Macau. Under questioning, Cheung refused to cooperate. Cheong noted that at the time of the press conference the police were still looking for the two other suspects and the whereabouts of the stolen phones.
Cheung was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing a theft charge.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the hooded suspect to a PJ van outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. – Photo: Ada Lei
