Crime | Fake marriage revealed as police arrest drug user

A four-year fake marriage, which was intended to help a mainland woman in gaining Macau citizenship, was exposed after the Public Security Police Force (PSP) arrested a local drug user, the PSP reported during yesterday’s joint police press conference.

The local drug user, surnamed Liu, was spotted by PSP while carrying 6.74 grams of heroin and 7.31 grams of tablets on November 10.

Liu admitted to the police that he had purchased these drugs on the mainland at a cost of RMB3,000, and that the drugs were for both self-consumption and sales.

The PSP, while conducting Liu’s identity check, found a family relationship certificate amongst the man’s belongings. Liu explained to the police that he was carrying the certificate in order to face a potential police investigation.

At that moment, Liu confirmed that he had married his sister in law’s older sister, who is a mainland woman, to help her get Macau citizenship. Liu and the mainland woman reached an agreement after she offered him MOP100,000.

However, during police investigation, the woman denied the illegitimacy of their marriage, and claimed that she and Liu even had a daughter (details were not given).

Liu, on the other hand, denied the legitimacy of their marriage, telling the police that he and the woman never met again after they had registered their marriage in mainland China.

According to PSP, no concrete evidence of a true marital relationship could be found.

The woman is approximately 40 years old and still holds travel documents issued by mainland China.

In October, four casino dealers were found to have married mainland women for the same aforementioned purposes. In those cases, the dealers charged mainland women a certain amount of money for a marriage which could help them get Macau citizenship.

According to PSP, as seen in all cases, the married couples end up divorcing once the mainlanders obtain their Macau citizenship.

A maximum of eight years in prison can be applied to people who forge marriages.

11 mainlanders arrested for counterfeit currency

ELEVEN MAINLANDERS (five men and six women) have been arrested for making and using counterfeit currency, the Judiciary Police reported yesterday. The case was detected when a mainland man, surnamed Zhao, was caught in a casino trying to use counterfeit HKD for gambling. After catching Zhao, the police then arrested another 10 men at an apartment located in Taipa. There, the police also seized 741 counterfeit HKD bills and currency printing machines. It is believed all suspects were involved in the production of counterfeit currencies.