A man from the mainland grabbed a gold chain from a jewellery shop in the city centre on Saturday morning, after which he was caught by Zhuhai police near the Gongbei border checkpoint less than three hours later, Macau Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Wai Lok announced during a special press conference on Saturday evening.
The jewellery shop is located on Travessa do Mastro (爐石塘巷), a short street between Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, the city’s main thoroughfare, and Rua da Felicidade.
Ho identified the suspect as a 25-year-old surnamed Qiao.
According to Ho, Qiao pretended to be a customer and entered the jewellery shop at 11:45 a.m. on Saturday telling a salesperson, whose gender was not revealed, that he wanted to buy a gold chain. The salesperson took a gold chain worth 40,000 patacas from the display cabinet and showed it to Qiao.
However, Ho said, Qiao suddenly grabbed the gold chain and ran from the shop while the salesperson was distracted.
The salesperson chased Qiao but was unable to catch him, after which he or she reported the case to the police.
Investigating the case, Ho said, PJ officers quickly identified Qiao as the suspect, confirming that he took a taxi en route to the Barrier Gate border checkpoint from where he left Macau, after which, Ho said, the Judiciary Police notified the mainland police of the case asking the latter to arrest the suspect.
According to Ho, the Zhuhai police caught Qiao near the Gongbei border checkpoint at 2:35 p.m., i.e., less than three hours after he committed the robbery, and seized the gold chain from him.
Ho did not elaborate on whether and when Qiao will be transferred back to Macau.
Ho said that Qiao’s motive for the crime was still being investigated.
This CCTV footage released by the police on Saturday shows the suspect running from the jewellry shop after grabbing the gold chain.
This handout photo provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) on Saturday shows the gold chain seized from the suspect.
