Crime | Police bust document forgery group

A n operation that has been counterfeiting visitor arrival documents since July 2019 has been uncovered by the Public Security Police Force (PSP), the bureau announced yesterday.
Last Tuesday, the PSP announced that it arrested a suspect, surnamed Chan, for manufacturing and selling fraudulent arrival paper slips. After questioning Chan, the police obtained intelligence that another suspect, aged 36 and surnamed Lam, was part of the operation.
According to Chan’s confession, he received fake slips from Lam, who later confessed his role in the alleged crime. In Lam’s statement, a 33-year-old mainland Chinese tourist surnamed Zhang, was said to have acted as the broker.
When the police intercepted Zhang, they were told that the suspect was staying at a hotel room in Cotai. Reaching the room, the police officers discovered two more men inside, both of whom were on overstaying condition and has been offered accommodation by Zhang.
The duo were surnamed Du and Feng. Du’s permission to remain in Macau ended on April 5, while Feng’s ended on April 8. Zhang had met the two at a casino in Cotai where he initiated conversation. Du and Feng told him that they had no place to stay, and Zhang offered to allow them to stay in a room.
Without an official visa or permission to remain in Macau, no tourist is legally able to get hotel accommodation.
To facilitate the manufacturing of the slips, Zhang rented a place on the Guia Hill, according to Lam’s statement. At the location, PSP officers discovered some computer equipment, a photocopy machine for domestic use and a commercial printer.
In addition, the police discovered copies of fraudulent arrival slips. A total of 11 copies – eight intact on a piece of A4 paper and three separate ones – were confiscated by the police as evidence.
The police discovered that many of the previously confiscated fraudulent arrival slips were similarly poorly printed as was the recently discovered batch of slips, leading them to draw a connection between the two incidents. From July last year until this case, more than 20 of these slips have been confiscated.
Both Feng and Du were charged with overstaying in Macau, while Feng was given an extra charge of purchasing and possessing fraudulent documents.

Car owner
‘steals’ own car
In an unrelated case also reported yesterday, a car owner stole his own car from a repair workshop in an attempt to evade paying for the repair service.
The 30-year-old local, surnamed Fong, had sent his car for repairs at a workshop before it was fixed on April 30. The owner of the workshop gave Fong a bill for MOP14,600.
Fong claimed to the owner that a family member would collect the car and settle the bill that afternoon. But two hours after their conversation, the workshop owner discovered that the car had disappeared, so he called the police. Under questioning, Fong confessed that he was unable to settle the bill so he surreptitiously took the key of his car and drove it away.
The police also discovered that Fong was under a court-ordered driving suspension.