Briefs | HK couple busted for selling cocaine in NAPE area

A couple from Hong Kong was arrested for drug trafficking. They had sold cocaine in Macau for the period of about two weeks for MOP80,000, the Judiciary Police (PJ) said yesterday. According to the PJ, police arrested two men in front of a hotel located in NAPE when they were trading drugs from a car earlier this week. One of the suspects is from Hong Kong and is a drug trafficker, while the other man in the car is a buyer and a Macau resident. Police also caught the trafficker’s wife in their hotel room and found a total of 14.9 grams of cocaine and 1.9 grams of heroin, worth about MOP50,000. The couple  confessed to the police that they were hired by drug dealers to sell cocaine in Macau.

SK Mak asks questions about Coloane stray dogs

Lawmaker Mak Soi Kun has urged the local government to take care of stray dogs in Coloane.  In his written inquiry to the government, Mak wrote, once again, that, “according to some residents living in Coloane,” a large number of street dogs appeared in the region. The dogs are said to have had a negative impact on the community’s hygiene and environment, with residents worrying about rabies. Mak remarked that the local animal protection law has clearly established penalties for the abandonment of animals. Mak wants the government to explain why there are more street dogs.

Restaurant, retail business weakens in February

The business performance of restaurants and retail in Macau weakened in February due to the buoyant sales in January prior to the Chinese New Year in early February, the statistics bureau said yesterday. The latest business climate survey report from the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) indicated that 33% of the interviewed restaurants were reporting a year-on-year decline in revenue in February, up by 12% from January. For retail trade, the proportion of interviewed retailers recording a year-on-year sales decrease in February surged by 32% from January to 69%, due to the buoyant sales in January before the CNY, and a higher base of comparison resulting from the festivities  that fell in mid-February last year.