Crime | LRT facilities robbed before even opening

Two facilities from the Light Rail Transit (LRT) system were robbed over the weekend, causing damage of over MOP500,000, the Judiciary Police (PJ) reported at the joint press conference held yesterday afternoon at the PJ headquarters.

According to the PJ spokesperson, there were two separate cases registered in the past few days involving facilities at the LRT stations in Taipa.

In both cases, large pieces of copper located in different areas were stolen from the stations, which are forecast to commence operations in 2019.
In the first case, the theft of a large piece of copper, which forms part of the protection bars limiting passenger access, was reported. The stolen piece was estimated to be worth around MOP130,000.

The PJ said that for the time being the only suspect is a 46-year-old construction worker from the mainland who had been reportedly seen by a security guard at the LRT site, and left a bag there with some tools inside it.

The police have already found the suspect and questioned him but the man denies having anything to do with the theft, saying that he only slept in the area where he was spotted by the guard.

In the second case, an even larger piece of copper was reported missing from another station. The long metal piece about 2 meters in length is used for the system that protects against lightning storms and was valued at about MOP400,000.

The police suspect that several people might be involved in this theft as it is unlikely that only one person could handle the weight and size of the materials stolen.

In an unrelated story, the PJ noted the occurrence over the past few days of two cases of arson caused by teenagers, in the same location,.

In the first case, which occurred on Sunday, an unidentified person called the PJ saying that there was a case of arson at a construction site located in Taipa. However, before the PJ even commenced investigations, a youth called the force to confess the crime.

Following questioning by the police, the suspect together with a friend (12 and 13 years old respectively) said that they wanted to take photos of an anthill, and one of them decided to set fire to it.

Returning home, the teenager said they saw a TV news report about the incident which said that the police were searching for culprits, at which point, he decided to turn himself in.

In another case, a group of three youngsters aged between 14 and 17 were also investigated by the PJ for setting fire to several wood pieces at the same construction site.

Two of them admitted to the police that they were boy scouts and recently learned how to start a fire using survival methods. They had decided on that day to put their knowledge into practice.

Loan shark presents complaint at PJ over unpaid debt

A MAINLAND loan shark presented a complaint to the Judiciary Police (PJ) over an unpaid debt from one of his “clients.” The man lent the sum of HKD5,000 to another mainland man for gambling purposes, charging an interest of HKD500 in addition to 50 percent of all won bets. As a guarantee of payment, the loan shark retained all his client’s documents. In the end, the gambler lost all the money and tried to escape, telling the police at the border checkpoint that he had been stripped of all his documents by a loan shark. The other man decided to present charges to the PJ over the unpaid debt. Both men ended up in jail for their unlawful practices.

Police find two more cases of ‘fake’ marriage

The Public Security Police Force (PSP) said yesterday at joint press conference that they had discovered another two cases of “fake marriage,” in addition to ones previously reported in the last couple of weeks.

This time, the cases have the distinction of being significantly different from other reports as in both cases, the motivation for the “marriage” seems to be difficulties in getting work permits through standard procedures.
As mentioned by the PSP spokesperson, the cases first came to the attention of the Identification Bureau (DSI) who found the cases to be suspicious due to the age gap between the individuals. The DSI requested that the PSP investigate both cases as a result of these suspicious circumstances.

In the first case, one of the suspects, a 31-year- old male hairdresser from mainland China, was searched on January 18 at the salon where he works. When he saw the officers entering the shop, he grabbed his mobile phone and barricaded himself in the lavatories of the establishment.

When the salon manager was asked to open the door, the woman acquiesced,  and the police spoke with the man.

The man admitted to the PSP that he met his wife, a local resident aged 59, through a friend. According to him, he had done her hair several times, and in 2009, they decided to marry. He elaborated that his wife paid him a monthly allowance of MOP5,000 from 2008, meaning that between then and 2018, he received a total amount of about MOP600,000.

The police also determined that he lived in private quarters inside the hair salon. Although he claimed his wife also lived with him, the PSP found no items that looked as though they belonged to his wife.

In a different case with very similar details, a mainland man (46) and a local woman (60) were also found to be in a fake marriage when, on January 20, the police intercepted the man at the border gate checkpoint.

He said he met the woman through a friend and married her back in 2002. In 2004, the same woman employed him to work in her café.

The man said that he wanted to be able to work in the region and that he had accepted the deal of working for one year in the coffee shop in exchange for his visa as well as his son’s eligibility to live in Macau.

In both cases, the suspects were detained and accused of false declarations and document forgery.  RM