Mainland man arrested for thefts at bus stops

A 50-year-old male resident from the mainland has been apprehended by the Public Security Police Force (PSP) while committing a theft at the Ponte 16 bus stop, a PSP spokesperson reported during the regular joint press conference of the Macau police forces yesterday.

According to the PSP, on April 22 (Friday) officers spotted the man acting suspiciously at the bus stop near Ponte 16. The officers said that he was continually looking at passengers’ belongings and movements, and then approaching them closely when they were about to get on the bus.

Police observed him for some time until they saw him stealing a purse from a passenger boarding a bus, when they immediately detained him.

Upon investigation, the police found out that the same suspect had been involved in at least one other theft reported to the PSP on the previous day, carried out in the same way.

According to the report, he had stolen a wallet from another victim at the bus stop of Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro/Wing Hang.

This earlier victim reported the loss of some 1,250 patacas as well as other important documents. Searching the man, the PSP recovered some of the cash and other possessions believed to belong to the previous victim.

Upon being taken in for questioning, he admitted to the crimes, and told the PSP that he entered Macau on April 19 around 5 p.m. through the Border Gate border checkpoint.

He also admitted to being unemployed on the mainland and said he came to Macau specifically to steal for money to survive. RM