Briefs | Mainland man caught overstaying, forging documents

A mainland man, surnamed Zhang, arrived in Macau in August 2018 with his Chinese passport and remained in the city with an expired permit until he was caught on August 5 this year, by the police at an on-road inspection. At the inspection, he claimed that he held a Korean passport, which was not at that time with him, but presented a picture of the passport. The police, however, could not find the immigration record of the passport. The man eventually confessed that he entered Macau with a Chinese passport. The police further discovered that the Korean passport was forged so that the suspect could rent hotel rooms with it. As such, a front office agent was also arrested under an alleged violation. Finally, the police discovered that the man has 57 fake Health Code images, which he confessed that he used to enter casinos.

Sexagenarian lost 52,000 euros to ‘Swedish engineer’ in scam

A local woman in her 60s has reported a scam to the police involving a person who claimed to be a Swedish engineer. The victim reportedly lost more than 52,800 euros (about 500,000 patacas). A year ago, the victim received a friend request on Facebook from the “engineer,” who claimed he was working in Italy. After becoming “friends,” the suspect stated that he needed money to repair his machinery. He then asked the woman to lend him the above sum and promised to return the money as soon as possible. The victim wired the money in three installments at the end of last year. Later, when the suspect asked her for several other loans without repaying the previous ones, she eventually realized the possibility she was being scammed.

Two juveniles found to be involved in drug trafficking

The Judiciary Police (PJ) has apprehended two local juveniles involved in drug trafficking. On August 6, in a hotel room located in the Toi San area, the PJ intercepted three teenagers aged between 15 and 18 years old, two of whom are underage. The police authority also seized 80 packs of three types of drugs worth a combined 140,000 patacas on the black market. One of the three, a 15-year-old girl, claimed to have no involvement in the crime. The other two said that she had been working for a Hong Kong drug trafficking group for approximately one month. The drugs were transported from Hong Kong to Macau. For every 0.3 grams of drugs they sell, the two teenagers were paid 90 patacas. In total, they have already received 30,000 patacas. The PJ has already forwarded the two juveniles to the prosecution authority.