Crime | Man attempted suicide to escape usury group

A mainland man attempted to commit suicide in front of a usury group inside a public restaurant earlier this month, the Judiciary Police (PJ) revealed yesterday in a police press conference.

The origin of this case dates back to the night of July 17, when the victim met the suspects – two mainland men, one of whom is surnamed Hong –  in a casino located in the Zona de Aterros do Porto Exterior (ZAPE).

The victim borrowed HKD500,000 from the two suspects on the condition that the pair would collect 30 percent of the man’s gambling winnings from every single play.

At 7 a.m. on July 18, the victim lost the whole sum that he had borrowed. This notwithstanding, during the victim’s gambling activities, the two usurers obtained a total of HKD500,000 from the man’s plays.

On the afternoon of July 20, the two suspects took the victim and one of his friends to a restaurant where the pair of suspects asked the man to pay back all the money he had borrowed, before leaving the restaurant.

In an attempt to commit suicide, the victim then swallowed a large number of sleeping bills while the two suspects were not paying attention. They left the scene immediately upon finding out that the man had tried to kill himself and that his friend had already called the police.

The victim was then sent to the Centro Hospitalar Conde de São Januário (CHCSJ), where he was treated before leaving the hospital on the next day.

The suspect surnamed Hong was arrested last Friday morning, when he was crossing the Lotus border gate to Macau.

The second suspect is still at large.

Woman forced to pay huge interest rate

A mainland woman paid HKD80,000 for HKD10,000 she had borrowed from a usury group.

The woman met another person from the mainland, who she considered a friend, in mainland China in March of this year where the two agreed to come to Macau.

The woman and her friend eventually met another person, surnamed Yang, in a casino located in ZAPE, where they jointly borrowed HKD20,000 from Yang.

The woman and her friend separated the money into two HKD10,000 parcels and went gambling.

After losing all the money they had borrowed, the woman and her friend each paid HKD80,000 to Yang for the HKD20,000 Yang had lent them earlier.

Upon paying the HKD80,000 to Yang, the woman reported this to the Macau’s police authority, claiming that she believes that her friend conspired against her and cooperated with the usury group.

Yang was arrested last Saturday while crossing a checkpoint in Macau. Yang refused to cooperate with the investigation conducted by the local police’s authority.

According to the PJ, the bureau has sufficient evidence to charge Yang, who has been forwarded to the prosecution authority.