The Judiciary Police arrested a mainlander for loan sharking and robbery, PJ spokesman Ho Wai Lok said during a special press conference on Friday.
Ho identified the suspect as a 39-year-old male surnamed Lang who told the police that he is jobless. Two accomplices were still at large at the time of the press conference.
According to Ho, the Judiciary Police received a robbery case from the Public Security Police (PSP) for follow-up investigation on Thursday.
The PJ investigation revealed that on Wednesday evening the victim gambled together with Lang and his accomplices through a chip pooling* arrangement at a casino in Zape.
Each side had agreed to contribute HK$600,000, HK$1.2 million (1.23 million patacas) in total, for their joint gambling “fund”, with the condition that 20 percent of the vietim’s winnings would be deducted based on each bet, as “interest”, Ho said.
Ho said that the victim handed over HK$600,000 in cash to Lang and received HK$1.2 million worth of gaming chips. Lang was tasked with deducting “interest”. After the victim had gambled away chips worth HK$400,000, Lang abruptly removed the remaining HK$600,000 worth of chips from the table and demanded that gambling cease at once, Ho said.
The victim was only able to retrieve HK$200,000 worth of chips, according to Ho. The victim considered it unreasonable for Lang to reclaim half of the gambling “fund”, leading to a noisy row between them that alerted casino security. Security personnel escorted both individuals to the security department for “mediation” between the two sides, during which Lang returned chips worth HK$350,000 to the victim to “resolve” the situation, Ho said.
Afterwards, Ho said that Lang and the victim left the casino together. In a nearby street, two unidentified men suddenly approached and assaulted the victim, snatching the HK$350,000 worth of chips from him, Ho said, adding that after seizing the chips, they fled the scene along with Lang. The victim and a friend immediately gave chase and managed to intercept Lang in a nearby street, after which they sought assistance from the police, Ho said.
The victim sustained injuries to his head, the left side of his chest, and left hand and a loss of HK$350,000 worth of chips, according to Ho.
The investigation also revealed that throughout the chip-pooling gambling arrangement, the victim had been charged HK$300,000 in “interest”, Ho said, adding that PJ officers seized a mobile phone involved in the case from Lang.
Lang was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Friday, facing charges of usury and robbery.
* In the context of gambling, the purpose of pooling chips is primarily to combine financial resources, enabling participants to place larger collective bets than they could individually. – DeepSeek
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the hooded usury and robbery suspect from the PJ headquarters in Zape to a van on Friday. – Photo: Armindo Neves
