Crime | PJ investigating case of dead man in Cotai hotel as homicide

The Judiciary Police (PJ) are investigating the case of the man found dead in a Conrad hotel room in Cotai on Sunday as a homicide, the PJ spokesperson disclosed during yesterday’s joint police press conference held at the PJ headquarters.

According to the PJ, the man was found dead at 12:45 p.m. on Sunday. The PJ received an alert from the Fire Services regarding the suspicious case, dispatching investigative officers to the scene.

After a preliminary analysis, PJ criminal investigators found that the man, later identified as a 41-year-old mainland resident surnamed Mui, a regular player in local casinos, had sustained several severe injuries to the chest, namely on the left side, with wounds that indicated the use of a bladed weapon.

The PJ spokesperson said that the man was found on the floor of the hotel room without any identification, cash or any other belongings.

Preliminary forensics also indicated that the time of death would have been less than 24 hours before the body was found.

For the time being, the PJ does not want to reveal information on whether they have suspects of the alleged crime, noting that the case is under investigation and that police are using all possible means to uncover the truth, including by reviewing the hotel unit’s surveillance camera footage.

ICE TRAFFICKER

In a separate case, the PJ has found and detained an individual suspected of drug trafficking in case that has been ongoing since June last year.

The case started on June 18, 2018, when the security of a casino located in central Macau found what appeared to be an abandoned mobile phone charger near a slot machine.

Further inspection of the equipment revealed that the charger was not functional and that there were 12 packages of the drug known as “Ice” (methamphetamines) with a total weight of 785 grams hidden in its interior.

After reviewing surveillance footage and identifying the suspect, the police started the search and found him on Saturday while he was preparing to reenter Macau through the Border Gate checkpoint.

The suspect, who was intercepted and detained for questioning, admitted to owning the equipment and the drugs found at the casino. The suspect told the police that the drugs were for personal consumption and were to be distributed among his other friends, denying involvement in drug trafficking.

However, the police believe they have enough evidence to suggest that the man possessed the drugs with the intention to resell them. The case was forwarded to the Public Prosecutions Office yesterday under the charges of drug trafficking.

EMAIL EXTORTION

The PJ is warning citizens of a new form of extortion. During the press conference held yesterday, the PJ said it has already received two complaints in the last few days.

The crime involves extortion from an unknown source through email. The source claims to have “hacked” into the victim’s system and threatens to reveal content related to the victim’s personal messages and website browsing habits to the public, namely friends and co-workers, unless the victim pays a ransom of about USD1,000 in cryptocurrency “bitcoin.”

According to the spokesperson, both victims who received these threats immediately lodged a complaint to the police and did not report any loss.

Traffic infraction exposes host of other crimes

A police investigation into a motorcyclist who committed a traffic infraction revealed several other illegal activities, a Public Security Police Force spokesperson reported during yesterday’s press conference.

According to the report, officers on duty at around 6 p.m. on February 14 spotted a motorcyclist at Rua da Hortense in the northern district making a turn into a one-way street in the opposite direction to which it operated.

The Macau resident, who is in his 40’s  and works as a mechanic assistant, was pursued by the police and finally stopped where he provided identification but failed to show a valid driving license.

Taken to the police station for further investigation, the man was found to still be subject to a two-year driving ban for a previous offence. Adding to this, the man displayed strange behavior, which led the police to send him to the public hospital to undergo a drug test.

The results revealed that he was under the influence of drugs, and hence he was additionally accused of the consumption of an illicit substance, driving under the influence of drugs and illegal driving during the ban period, besides the initial traffic infraction.

He was presented to the Public Prosecutions Office to be charged for these multiple crimes. RM