Briefs | Two suspected of luxury watch fraud involving 80 million patacas

The Judiciary Police (PJ) has apprehended two local residents – one man and one woman – who are suspected of being responsible for a luxury watch fraud worth 80 million patacas, the police authority reported on Friday. The man, aged 36, started selling branded watches with a 25% discount to three victims in September 2018. In the beginning, he provided the products. However, after one year, the suspect could no longer provide all the requested watches, but continued to keep the payments. The man said that he purchased the watches from the female suspect, aged 40, who did not deliver them. He then accused her of fraud. When questioned by the police authority, the woman denied the fraud accusation, saying only that due to Hong Kong’s massive protests last year, and the disruption caused by them, she could not obtain the items promised to the buyers. However, believing that it was a fraud case, the PJ has referred the two to the prosecution authority.

Central registration system records 46 domestic violence cases in 2019

The city recorded a total of 46 suspected domestic violence cases in 2019, according to the statistics of the central registration system for domestic violence cases. Twenty-six cases involved violence against spouses, 14 involved violence against children, four involved violence against seniors and two involved violence between other family members. In the classification of domestic violence, physical violence accounted for the majority, with 27 cases (58.7%). Four cases were related to mental abuse (8.7%), nine cases involved multiple instances of violence or aggression (19.6%). There were also three sexual crimes (6.5%) and three cases of inappropriate care (6.5%). The city’s domestic violence law came into effect in September 2016, establishing domestic violence as a public crime instead of a semi-public crime.

Two mainland residents smuggled into Macau for gambling

The Judiciary Police (PJ) has apprehended two mainland residents who were smuggled into Macau. They claimed that they were simply avoiding both the mainland’s and Macau’s quarantine measures. Each of them paid 23,000 yuan to a 20-year-old mainland man to transport them via sea. They admitted having planned to gamble in Macau despite not wanting to go through the mainland’s and Macau’s quarantine measures. On the other side of Macau, the Zhuhai police authority arrested seven mainland residents, aged between 30 and 44 years old, who were responsible for trafficking people between Zhuhai and Macau, including this specific smuggling case. The trafficking group has been operating for more than one month, charging every clandestine tourist 23,000 yuan.