Crime | Firefighter accused of theft; second case in under a week

The police authority has charged another firefighter with theft, the second case in less than a week.

During yesterday’s joint police press conference, the Judiciary Police (PJ) reported a case which took place in the early morning of March 2 at Avenida do Conselheiro Borja. The target was a convenience store located on said road.

On the day, the suspect entered the convenience store. He was intoxicated while shopping inside the store. Eventually, he bought a number of snacks and drinks, and paid for all the products.

However, as he was leaving the store, he picked up two ramen noodle cups from a product rack close to the entrance of the shop and left the shop without paying for them.

A female employee at the shop tried to call the suspect back to pay. The suspect, instead of returning to the cashier, ran away from the shop. As he was running on the street, an off-duty police officer from the Public Security Police Force (PSP) noticed the suspected was being chased by a woman and caught him.

In total, the two cups of noodles were worth 44 Macau patacas.

The suspect denied the theft accusations, saying that he had left money to pay for the noodles.

According to the PJ, the suspect is a 28-year-old man who joined the Fire Services Bureau (CB) in 2016. He has been serving as a firefighter since then. The PJ forwarded the case to the prosecution authority on Monday.

This is the second case of suspected illegal activity involving a firefighter in less than a week.

On February 25, an off-duty firefighter allegedly entered an unlocked shop located in the ZAPE area and stole a total of 50,000 Macau patacas in cash, one diamond bracelet and two bottles of wine.

The following day the firefighter, a 27-year-old man surnamed Wong called the shop and admitted to the theft of some 29,000 Macau patacas only. He said he would return the cash to the shop the next day. After the phone call, the shop owner called the police authority.

On February 27, Wong went to the shop to return the stolen items to the victim. He was apprehended inside the shop by some PJ investigators who were there waiting for him.

The PJ found a total of 29,000 Macau patacas in cash on the suspect’s person. Wong claimed he had stolen under the effects of alcohol, and that he only realized what he had done the next day. Wong also said that he had only stolen 29,000 Macau patacas, not 50,000 Macau patacas, and also claimed that he had not taken the wine and the bracelet.

The police authority charged Wong with aggravated theft.

On February 28, CB issued a statement reaffirming that the bureau will not tolerate any acts that violate the law and relevant discipline, and that all illegal acts must be punished in accordance with the law.