Taxi driver accused of extortion by client

A taxi driver has been accused by a client of an extortion attempt over a dispute regarding a lost mobile phone, the Public Security Police Force (PSP) informed.
According to the report from the police force, the victim took a taxi on July 14 around 8.15 p.m. from a hotel in the ZAPE area to another hotel in Cotai.
Arriving at the destination and after the taxi left, the man noticed that his mobile phone was missing and promptly used his wife’s phone to call his own phone.
From the other side of the line, the taxi driver answered the phone call informing that he had found the phone but also saying that if the victim wanted to have his mobile phone back he had to give him the sum of HKD1,500 as compensation.
After some discussion the victim accepted, requesting the taxi driver to drive back to the hotel’s drop-off zone. In the meanwhile, he searched for help telling the story to a PSP officer on duty at the hotel door.
When the taxi driver arrived, the police officer witnessed the conversation between the parties, which led to the tentative arrest of the driver based on the accusation of the victim.