The Judiciary Police (PJ) arrested two mainland men on Tuesday for engaging in casino loansharking activities, PJ spokesman Chao Teng Hin said during a special press conference yesterday.
Chao identified the suspects as a 34-year-old male surnamed Zhao and a 37-year-old male surnamed Zhang, who told the police that they are jobless.
According to Chao, the Judiciary Police (PJ) received a report on Tuesday from the security department of a casino in Nape about a casino loansharking case. PJ officers later apprehended Zhao and Zhang at the casino.
Chao noted that the victim met Zhao and Zhang on Monday, along with a man who was still at large at the time of the press conference. The suspects persuaded the victim to engage in gambling activities using a “chip runner”* method. Specifically, both the victim and Zhao contributed HK$120,000 each, totalling HK$240,000 for the victim to gamble, with the suspects taking 20 percent of the betting money from each winning round as “interest.”
After agreeing to the loan terms, the victim handed over HK$120,000 in cash to Zhang, who then exchanged the money for gaming chips, providing the victim with HK$240,000 in chips for gambling. Throughout the gambling process, the suspects continuously collected “interest” from the victim. This continued until Tuesday, when the victim had a row with the suspects over the collected “interest,” drawing the attention of security personnel. During the verbal dispute, one of the suspects seized the opportunity to flee the scene, while the victim’s friend, who held the victim’s chips worth HK$170,000, had already left before the police arrived.
Chao did not elaborate on the whereabouts of the victim’s friend and the chips.
Chao added that the victim was charged a total of HK$20,000 in purported “interest”. Under questioning, Zhao and Zhang refused to cooperate. The police seized a mobile phone from Zhao.
The duo were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, each facing a charge of usury.
*Known in local Portuguese as “bate-ficha” - DeepSeek
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the hooded usury suspects to a PJ van outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. – Photo: Ada Lei
