The Judiciary Police (PJ) have arrested a gang of five men from the Chinese mainland for fraud and organised crime, PJ spokesman Cheong Siu Keong said during a special press conference yesterday.
Cheong identified the quintet as surnamed Feng, Zhou, Zhao, Zhang, and Xie. He noted that Zhou and Xie claimed to be an online seller and a delivery driver, respectively, while the other three claimed that they were unemployed.
According to Cheong, the Judiciary Police last month received two separate reports from two males from the Chinese mainland who claimed to have received eight and six HK$1,000 (1,030 pataca) prop banknotes*, respectively, after exchanging yuan into Hong Kong dollars at a casino in Zape.
Cheong did not reveal the exact date when the police received both reports.
According to Cheong, police officers intercepted a suspect surnamed Feng at the scene, who was subsequently transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP). Further investigations led the police to identify a total of four more suspects involved in the case.
At midnight on Friday last week, PJ officers discovered that the four suspects had re-entered Macau via the Barrier Gate checkpoint and gathered at a residential unit in Iao Hon district. At midday on Saturday, the quartet went to a casino in Zape, where one of them, Xie, exchanged yuan into HK$20,000 for a female mainland tourist, Cheong said.
When the woman took the banknotes to the casino cage, she discovered that 10 of them were prop banknotes. As the transfer of funds was only to take place after the exchange was confirmed, the woman suffered no financial loss, Cheong added.
PJ officers intervened immediately and arrested the four suspects. During a search of the flat in Iao Hon, they discovered 45 additional prop banknotes of the same type. Combined with the 10 used in the attempted exchange, a total of 55 prop notes were seized.
Upon examination, Cheong stated that the prop banknotes lacked security features such as watermarks or reflective elements; he added that several notes shared the same serial numbers and were clearly printed with the word “PROP”.
Cheong described Zhou as the gang’s core member, while Xie was responsible for transporting the prop notes from the Chinese mainland to Macau, receiving 1,000 yuan (1,190 patacas) per trip.
Four members of the gang were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, each facing charges of fraud and organised crime.
Meanwhile, Cheong also noted that the flat in Iao Hon is suspected of operating as an illegal guesthouse, and the matter has been reported to the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) for follow-up action.
*This motion picture term covers everything from high-quality replicas used in close-ups to “filler” stacks used in background shots. – Gemini
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the hooded suspects to a PJ vehicle outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. – Photo: Armindo Neves
