Crime | Illegal currency exchange prompts theft of HKD200,000

An illegal currency exchange operation at a hotel in Cotai resulted in a robbery involving HKD200,000, the Judiciary Police (PJ) reported in a press conference early this week.
According to the PJ, the victim, a man from the mainland, in the case admitted to the police that he had been engaging in illegal currency exchange activities in the casinos.
He said that he met one of the suspects in a casino smoking lounge on May 3 around 5 p.m. and he offered him the chance to exchange currencies.
The suspect accepted and they thereupon exchanged RMB87,000 for HKD100,000, and also exchanged contacts on WeChat.
Less than one hour later, the same suspect contacted the victim through WeChat, saying that he needed to exchange more money and asked for HKD200,000.
The victim asked for some time to get such a large amount, and around 6:30 p.m., he returned the call, arranging to perform the exchange in a hotel room in the same resort.
Upon arriving, the victim noted the presence of a second man in the hotel room, but did not take this as a matter of any importance.
The first suspect asked to see the entire sum immediately, which he then counted into a bag. After that, he told the victim that he wanted to leave the room to transfer him the amount agreed upon via mobile phone bank transfer. However, as soon as they had both entered the hotel corridor, the suspect ran, attempting to flee the hotel.
The victim gave chase, managing to grab the first suspect and waylay him, until the second suspect, the man who was in the room, came to the aid of the first suspect.
The confusion and fighting in the corridor alerted hotel security which then detained the three persons and called the police.
Upon investigation, the first suspect admitted to attempting to rob the man, offering as justification for his crime that he had lost all his money at the casino.
The second suspect has refused to cooperate with the PJ and has chosen to remain silent during the inquiry.
Although, according to the victim, the initial deal was to exchange HKD200,000, the PJ stated that they only found HKD190,000 in the first suspect’s bag.
In a separate case, in an attempt to tackle the growing problem of illegal currency exchange activities in local casinos, the PJ has launched an anti-crime operation on the eve of the May 1 Golden Week, deploying inspectors to casinos and surrounding areas of Cotai to conduct inspections for illegal currency exchanges.
In the course of the operation, the PJ detained 30 mainland residents (21 males and nine females) suspected of this illegal activity.