Crime | Fake monk, accomplice caught by police

A fake monk and a man that is believed to be his accomplice were apprehended on June 2 while trying to lure passers-by into giving money in exchange for face and palm readings, a Public Security Police Force (PSP) spokesperson informed yesterday during a press conference.

While performing an anti-crime operation, police officers spotted the two men on the crossroad between Av da Praia Grande and Calçada dos Quartéis. The man dressed as a monk was performing a face and palm reading on a man while passers-by were stopping and looking.

After the alleged face and palm reading, the monk handed a paper slip to the man with quotes of good will and well-wishes. Then, the alleged costumer told watchers that the monk was exceptionally skilled at face and palm reading and that they should also try it.

At this point, PSP stopped the performance and asked both for identification. Further investigation revealed that the monk had 19 pendants with Buddha statues, four amulets also with Buddhist motifs and 10 paper slips with “good quotes” in his bag.

When questioned by the police, the monk admitted that he had traveled to Macau on June 1 and met the other man in a casino where they gambled all the money they had.

As a result, he came up with the idea of performing the aforementioned theatrical show to lure people into giving him money and buying the “good luck souvenirs.”

The role of the other man was allegedly to pretend he was a normal customer so as to attract passers-by. The pair planned to split the profit in half.

According to what the police could discern, he was selling each pendant and amulet for RMB100, and he had sold at least three, earning a total of RMB300.

However, the alleged accomplice denied being complicit, claiming that he was simply a costumer.

Both men were from the Mainland, and the case was handed to the Labor Affairs Bureau (DSAL) when the duo were charged for conducting illegal work in the region.

In a separate case, the Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesperson informed that they found a man accused of providing false statements to the police.

The man had approached the PJ to file a complaint over a case of robbery against him that allegedly occurred in the NAPE area.

The man, from the Mainland, told the PJ in his statements that three men while passing by the NAPE garden threatened him with a knife and used “scotch tape” to tie his hands and to steal all of his money.

When he was taken by the officers to the location where the crime had allegedly occurred, the officers noted that he had several inconsistencies. They further questioned him, and he then admitted to have lied to hide from his family that he had lost the money (HKD60,000) in a casino. RM

Crackdown on ferry ticket scalping

The PSP informed that a concerted operation has cracked down on scalping ticket sales in both ferry terminals (Taipa and Outer Harbor).

The first operation occurred on June 3 at Taipa Maritime Terminal, when police officers caught a local man of around 30 years, who was reselling ferry tickets at the Terminal’s departure hall.

The man told officers that he had been conducting this activity since the official opening of the Terminal on June 1. Every day, he would go to different casinos and approach gamblers and offer to buy their tickets in exchange for gaming points.

He told the officers he would buy economy tickets for HKD80, and First Class tickets for HKD100, that he would resell for HKD120 and 130 respectively. On the day when he was approached by the police, the suspect had a total of 13 economy class tickets and one first class ticket. Of this number, he had managed to sell eight economy tickets, making a profit of HKD320.

In a similar but separate case a local woman was caught around 5 p.m. on the same day at the footbridge of the Outer Harbor Ferry Terminal. The woman, in her 40s, was caught while trying to make her eighth sale of the day.