Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesperson Chong Kam Leong, together with the head of the PJ Robbery Offences Section, Senior Inspector Tong Keang Po, announced at a special press conference at the PJ headquarters on Friday the arrest of six male mainland robbery suspects by the local and mainland police earlier last week.
Tong identified the two victims as a middle-aged couple from the Chinese mainland, the female being a non-resident worker (NRW) in Macau.
The first suspect is a 35-year-old driver surnamed Miao; the second suspect is a 31-year-old surnamed Miao, who claimed to be jobless; the third suspect is surnamed Guan, aged 30, who claimed to work as a game levelling service provider. The first three suspects were arrested in Macau. The other suspects arrested in the mainland are a 31-year-old surnamed Yang, a 39-year-old surnamed Wang, and a 37-year-old surnamed Zou.
According to Tong, at midnight on May 22, the PJ reporting centre received a notification from the Public Security Police (PSP) that two victims reported having been robbed in a hotel room in Cotai on the evening of May 21 at 9 p.m. They claimed to have been robbed of HK$160,620 in cash and gold jewellery worth 30,000 yuan.
Tong said that the first victim and the first suspect, a male, were from the same hometown and had previously run a restaurant together in the mainland. In late 2024, the first victim borrowed HK$800,000 from the first suspect to engage in illegal currency exchange activities in Macau but subsequently lost the entire sum. As a result, in April, the first victim agreed to the first suspect’s demands on two separate occasions, signing loan agreements in the mainland, pledging to repay HK$900,000 in total, including interest. Due to the first victim’s failure to repay the debt, the first suspect robbed the victim in Macau, backed by his five accomplices, on May 21.
According to Tong, Yang arranged for Wang, whom the first victim had never met, to approach the victim in the casino under the pretence of engaging in illegal currency exchange. When the first victim claimed not to have enough cash on hand, the second suspect suggested moving to the guestroom to discuss gambling strategies. Unaware of the deception, the first victim immediately contacted his wife (the second victim), instructing her to bring the required cash to the guestroom.
Tong said that when the two victims followed the second suspect into the room, the five other accomplices were waiting inside. The six suspects immediately assaulted the victims, threatening them with a knife they found in the room to overpower the couple. They then robbed the first victim of HK$620 in cash and took HK$160,000 in cash along with some gold jewellery from the second victim.
According to Tong, after committing the robbery, the suspects fled the scene in two separate groups. The three who left last were pursued by the victims to the hotel lobby, where security personnel assisted in detaining them and alerting the local police. Upon further investigation, the Judiciary Police discovered that the other three suspects had already fled to the mainland.
Tong said that Yang, Wang, and Zou immediately fled to the mainland via the Hengqin Port (border checkpoint) after leaving the crime scene, while the three other suspects were apprehended by hotel security. The Judiciary Police immediately activated their cross-border cooperation mechanisms with the mainland authorities to assist in apprehending the fugitives. Ultimately, the trio were arrested separately in Zhuhai City and Haikou City on Wednesday.
The three suspects caught in Macau were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing robbery charges last week. The two robbery victims face charges of operating a gaming-related illegal currency exchange business, according to the press conference.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the hooded robbery trio from the mainland to a PJ vehicle outside the PJ headquarters in Zape on Friday. – Photo: Maria Cheang Ut Meng.
